Addison Road

I once told a friend of mine that my desire to be a writer wasn’t as “holy” a pursuit as her desire to be a missionary. She stopped me almost mid-sentence and corrected my thinking by saying, “Wait, isn’t God creative? Aren’t we created in His image? God’s already laid it out for you; you just have to follow His example. In fact, it’s almost as if God’s example of creativity calls us Christians to be creative.” I wonder if my friend mentioned this same thought to Addison Road; the five-member band has produced a record that proves they serve a creative God. With unique lyrics and melodies that make you want to sing along, Addison Road’s self-titled debut is definitely one to add to your collection.

So, what makes Addison Road’s album creative? Unique lyrics. Christian music has the difficult task of expressing something that is an individual experience. Faith is very real, but personal. Because of that truth, often artists tend to rely on well-known phrases from the Bible to pad their songs. Unfortunately, those phrases that were original and unique have now become clichés. Addison Road has proven that they are capable of creatively describing faith and the Christian life. Take for instance their song “Start Over Again” which talks about the rebirth a person experiences when they collide with God in such a real way it transforms their lives: “Love like a hand reaches down/And pulls us up/From the dirty ground/Now is the time/Step from the dark into the light/Cause you can’t change what you’ve done/But you can choose who you’ll become/Every moment is a second chance/For starting over/Pulled from the past to the present tense/You can start over.”

The second thing that makes Addison Road’s album creative is the variety within their music. Not only do they shine while playing their strong, up-tempo songs such as “It Just Takes One,” but the band also does well with the slow-tempo songs “Hope Now” and “Run.” Their genre is pop rock, but the album showcases the band’s ability to blur genre lines and add their own spin. In fact, their album ranges from slow and melodic (“What Do I know of Holy”) to middle road (“Sticking with You”) to rocking out (“Always Love”). Jenny Simmons’ voice is just as powerful from one song to the next, continuously reaching into the listener’s ear and taking the message of each song to the listener’s mind.

Addison Road will be staying on the Christian music scene for a while, and it will be exciting to see what new songs they bring to our eager ears next. They remind me of Sixpence None the Richer in terms of their ability to rise above the mainstream sound that dominates the Christian music market. It would not be surprising at all if in a year we hear “Always Love” playing on the secular radio because Addison Road’s music will garner respect from both markets.

“What we do here is just the beginning/New life is starting at every ending/We are a part of a story unfolding/This is the weight of the world we are holding/This could be our day…” This is definitely Addison Road’s day to raise the level of creativity in Christian music.

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