MIKESCHAIR [MIKESCHAIR]
Posted July 15, 2009
By christianmusicreview,
[MAIN REVIEW]
The origin of MIKESCHAIR was set in a freshman guy’s dorm room one night at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. The band’s name, MIKESCHAIR, begs for an explanation. “The 'chair' was the central gathering point where we got our start,” says Sam. “All of us lived on the same floor of our dorm at Belmont, except for Mike. But, since he was always hanging out with us on our floor, we decided to get him piece of furniture to make him feel a little more at home. The chair was his only piece of property on our floor. He wrote his name on it in big capital letters, and it kind of became his seat of inspiration for writing songs and being creative. The name is a reminder of our humble beginnings and how far God has brought us.”
MIKESCHAIR is a very good debut self-titled album this year by a promising new band. I like the history behind the band name and in the past couple of years, Rush of Fools, Tenth Avenue North and Fee have all made a big impact as new bands on the Christian music scene, all having been nominated for best new artist and I expect a similar outcome for MIKESCHAIR. Their sound seems to be a very nice combination of the sound of those acclaimed bands. Right away, the sound of this album had me hooked as opening song “Outside of Me” set the worshipful tone for the whole album. Vocally, Mike reminds me of Wes from Rush of Fools and the second song “Straight To Your Heart” reminded of me “Lose It All” by Rush of Fools both in sound and message about God reaching out and pulling us closer to Him. It has a great keyboard part and instrumentally is my favorite song on the album.
“Back To Life” keeps the rock going, and has a great positive message about “being tired of going through the motions and God bringing us back to life”. Great honest straightforward message. “Can’t Take Away” is already a top 10 hit on Christian radio and is the stand-out song of the album. According to the band, it was the last song they wrote and got added late to the album. What a blessing as the song really speaks to the Truth that no matter what happens in the world around us, “you can’t take away my God”.
“Let The Waters Rise” is a great ballad and a great crying out in faith that no matter what, we will follow God. “Hallelujah” rings out with another great keyboard part and cry out in thankfulness and the song reminded me of “Burn For You” by Fee. “Fight The Feeling” and “Silhouette” are both nice mellow tempo songs great for quiet times of prayer and reflection with God. “Keep Changing The World” is a great anthem about taking action. As believers, we are called to fight for the broken, hold onto love, and reach for the lonely. This whole album is very encouraging and always stays true to themes of hope, faithfulness and praise to our Great God!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
For me the standout songs are “Outside Of Me”, “Straight To Your Heart”, “Back To Life”, “Can’t Take Away” and “Let The Waters Rise”. If you like Rush of Fools, Tenth Avenue North and Fee, you can’t go wrong with MIKESCHAIR.
Rating: 9.2 out of 10 (92%, A)
Review written by: Kevin Davis | Review can also be found here.
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