Plumb – Chaotic Resolve

Plumb – Chaotic Resolve / 2006 Curb / 14 Tracks / http://www.plumbinfo.com / http://www.curb.com / Reviewed 19 August 2006

In all my years of listening to Christian music, I always thought that Plumb was a band instead of just primarily being a singer. Plumb has not lost a step in the ten years that ey has been in the contemporary Christian scene. The second track on the disc is “I Can’t Do This”, and Plumb fully moves into an Evanescence type of groove with this track. In the same vein, there seems to be a disaffection with the current way ey is living that also was a major point of Plus One’s later hit “I Don’t Care What It Takes”. The final minute of “I Can’t Do This” has solid arrangements, to the degree that I almost forgot that I was listening to a music disc and not a soundtrack for some nineties movie.

There seems to be some unity between Plumb and a number of the post-American Idol stars, most notably Kelly Clarkson. The current pop overtones of tracks like “Real Life Fairytales” seem to move Plumb away from the stereotypical Christian pop (read: dated) sound, and into something that individuals can pick up. This current sound ensures that individuals can pick up the disc and not know it is Christian, which will have the effect of getting more individuals into that lifestyle. The tracks are all solid pop tracks, which means that the arrangements are impressive even if the lyrics are leaving something to be desired (“Better”). At least the hooks achieved by Plumb during “Chaotic Resolve” are something that will bounce around listeners’ heads for months, if not years to come.

The fact that Plumb can jump between pop and pop-rock so successfully shows that ey is mature in this genre. “Better” is a track that shows that the orchestral approach can be used in rockish tracks without it seeming too over the top, and it works well feeding into the dance meets ambient sound (think Madonna meets Bjork) during “Manic”. Plumb has been around for around a decade, and each subsequent album has been able to show different facets of eir style. Some may say that ey is just trying to find the biggest payday by jumping to different styles, but I see a sincerity during these tracks that really goes against that train of thought. While this is a Christian act, there is a great potential in Plumb’s music that would allow for ease in crossing over to the secular pop genre.

Top Tracks: Manic, Motion

Rating: 6.5/10

[JMcQ]