Various Artists

From the people that brought you the ubiquitous Wow series of compilations comes Underground Sounds, Volume 1 – a collection that, according to the description, features songs from North America’s “top independent Christian recording artists.” To today’s savvy music consumer, the words underground and independent carry a very specific connotation: raw, unpolished but artistically daring music created by artists that are not necessarily aiming for the mainstream – in other words, music with an edge.

To be fair, the ‘indie’ scene has never been well defined as a genre, and has often simply become the haven of the unsigned band – still, there’s an expectation of hearing music that will at least deviate to an appreciable degree from the Nashville Standard, and this collection simply doesn’t go there. It can be argued (if you’re a cynical wise guy like me) that there’s a good reason for some artists to remain unsigned – in the case of this collection of 15 tracks it’s perhaps a more valid observation that these artists all sound good enough to already be signed, but in most cases not good enough for you to have noticed.

Forgetting the unfortunate choice of the word ‘underground’ in the title of this collection, listening to this album is much like turning on the radio and going about your business. I found that I kept hoping for some track to really come to life and impress me as something fresh and exciting but, even though all of the songs are well performed and competently written, they come off instead as merely safe and uninspiring. Still, as with any collection, there are enough different choices here to give each different set of ears something to latch onto. I found “Whisper,” by The Shelley Moor Band, to be a thoughtful, interesting piece of acoustic rock/folk that was well-produced and stood out as one of the more creative, ‘human’ moments on the album.

“The Real Me,” by The Ride has some strong rock radio potential without sounding like next month’s Switchfoot clone (although the song has a strange, out-of-nowhere fade). Foolish Things bring some much-needed energy to the proceedings with “Who’d You Put in Charge,” a clean-edged rocker with some good musical momentum and a hook. Most of the remaining tracks consist of pretty standard CCM material, featuring several mid-tempo rock ballads, mostly sung with a bloodless earnestness that sounds like an American Idol contestant trying just a bit too hard.

Am I saying that this is a bad CD? No – not really. Certainly, the package is misnamed, but if you’re looking for 15 radio-friendly examples of what’s current in Contemporary Christian Music you might really enjoy this collection. On the other hand, for the most part you shouldn’t be expecting much more than generic, in terms of what kind of songs you’ll be hearing. Any one of these artists could sound at home on Christian radio, since the over-all sound of most of the tracks on this project is very commercial, non-threatening and accessible: to some people those are negatives, to others they’re positives – which of these types of people you are will determine whether you’ll enjoy this collection or think of it as just another way to market some very standard music to a built-in audience that doesn’t demand much in the way of creativity or artistic adventurousness.

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