Reviewed by Tim Holden

'Raging River' is South Carolina-based Jeremy's first album and has taken him five years to write, arrange, play, record and produce. Unfortunately it shows, with an electro pop sound courtesy of some very dated synth drum sounds, a rock feel to the arrangements, some very heavy handed effects on the vocals and some odd production choices leading to an edgy sound that verges on sounding cheap and nasty. The songwriting tries to cover some good ground mainly looking at grace and our personal relationship with God without using "church" language. However, it does not really cover any of the subjects to any depth and gives the album an immature feel. Jeremy unwittingly sums it all up in the lyrics to "My Voice" - "There's nothing special about the chords that I play/And there's better singers that you hear everyday, Yeah/And there's nothing new under the sun/And all that I do - has already been done." I suspect it's much better live. But I must report the album is not up to it.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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