Clouds block some of Chasens shine
Posted June 23, 2008
By Nathan,
At an early age Chasen Callahan was ambitious, and performing with Relient K, KJ-52, and Everyday Sunday has been one goal set for Chasen. After releasing Chasen (a five song disc) the band has come out with Shine through the Stars, their first full length album.
The hit single “crazy beautiful” might mislead listeners, for the pop rock is not much of a theme in Shine through the Stars, as Chasen is a worship band who tests the limits on the genre. The verity of music is a nice touch, because they may have a straight up beat worship tune most of the time, the acoustic songs can be very sharp (“drown”, where Chasen Callahan sounds like Daughtry, and “don’t walk away”), some brief bits of twang, and the brief heavier pop (“crazy beautiful”). However Chasen does fall in the middle to end of the album when the worship songs are unconvincing and often don’t test the limits of anything.
The emotion in the chorus is a plus on the pop song “If it comes down” which could be a future hit and “all creation” has a pop opening and a nice beat, but it does lack something more intricate. Chasen’s acoustic songs often are too simple and end up being too boring (“nothing like you” and “Doubts or Disbelief” which sounds like Jars of Clay without the emotion and the extra strength in the music), but “drown” really is an excellent acoustic adult contemporary song. The middle of the album is really where the album lacks drive. Whether it’s Chris Tomlin, Aaron Shust, or Lincoln Brewster, it seems like the worship songs that Chasen throws out there have already been completed. “All Creation”, “history tonight”, and “God and king” all sound similar and sound like average songs on the radio. While the final song is good it’s also short, but the thing to stay around for is the spectacularly played hidden song which is the pinnacle of Chasen.
Being a worship band often doesn’t allow for a lot of awe inspiring lyrics, as so much of the genre is so repetitive. “Crazy beautiful” talks about the beauty of individuals (‘We're different but the same/In the eyes of the King’) and while “drown” is not clearly written, Chasen Callahan based it off of overcoming lust. But some of Chasens’s songs don’t quite shine like “desires” and “all I can say” which talks about unity, but its focus is worshiping God (which is not bad but the abundance on the album is tedious). Some of the songs have solid messages, but most are repetitive and nothing new.
With songs like “crazy beautiful” “drown” and the hidden track, its clear Chasen has potential to be a good adult contemporary/pop music band. But as long as they keep it simple with their worship music and lyrics it’s unlikely that Chasen will hit it big time. But some of Chasen’s shine definitely shines through on Shine Through the Stars.
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