“O, Canada. O, God.” The Winter Olympics aren’t the only noteworthy media coming from the North. From the altar to the stage, Canadian gospel roots rockers Newworldson are making some public headway on their own, and they couldn’t be more eager to give thanks to the Big Guy.
Ascending from virtual unknowns in ’07 to international festival headliners in ’09, progress has given them reason to celebrate. They’ve even nabbed a few awards along the way. With such impetus, they better hope to God their self-described reggae/soul/pop blend doesn’t fizzle out like a fad.
Their new self-titled release capitalizes on that momentum as they immediately lift the energy bar up a notch from 2008’s Salvation Station. The added liveliness doubtlessly comes from the newfound rush of performing in front of large-scale audiences. “You Set the Rhythm” breathes that high intensity as the opening track.
Balancing the power, Joel Parisien’s vocals hum out anticipatory verses divinely inspired in theme, if lacking in ingenuity. But with a built-in niche audience of Gospel pop fans, the less-than-genius lyrics are passable sing-alongs for the genre. The holy subject matter gets redundant for anyone else, even when they try to mask it a little — “In Your Arms” could almost be misconstrued as a love song with some minor rewording. Almost.
They push the envelope for sing-alongs to the next level in “There is a Way,” a pop ballad with choral accompaniment. It echoes a familiar Jack Johnson vibe, culminating in praiseworthy epicness. Unfortunately, the same song contains a low point of the album: contrived, rhythmic beat boxing. It’s a little too central to the song to blame on an inside joke.
Since the lyrical content plays to the collective niche, delivery must carry some serious weight. It also provides the one hope for potential mainstream appeal, and any mainstreaming will owe to the rockers’ self-described blend of pop, reggae and soul. Actually, it’s pretty catchy. For better or for worse, it will get stuck in your head.
Catchiness may cause headaches, especially when the downfall is in the mechanics; that is, the instruments. More specifically, the guitar. It’s great for the rhythm and reggae chirps, but when it comes to leads and solos, it is downright juvenile. It reaches a painful low in “That’s Exactly (How I Like It)” in technical simplicity, unoriginality and sheer equipment choice. Did the guitarist borrow his kid brother’s starter pack axe and then steal his first riff?
On the other side of the strings, an upright bass plays a foundational role in Newworldson’s sound. The old upright isn’t the exclusive choice of Rich Moore anymore, but when he flaunts it, the depth is spectacular.
Newworldson has released a crowd pleaser that will surely ring bells in the Gospel pop circuit. However, it plays as a rushed job in production, stuffed in the mix of a whirlwind touring schedule. Next time, it would be nice to see it take some “me” time and a deep breath before scraping together an album.
2 stars out of 5.
