Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

America's True Tunes label is becoming an effective conduit for the cream of independent music in America. At the Gospel Music week in Nashville recently, True Tunes held an excellent showcase for their artists featured Wide Awake. Until recently, this band were called Thread but after some kind of legal entanglements, they chose to switch band name with the title of the album, so Wide Awake were born! Hailing from the north west of America, the band play modern rock and create a good old-fashioned huge guitar sound which spills out of the speakers, but they mix it up with loops and state-of-the-art sounds. There's plenty to get stuck into here, including the thumping rhythms and attack of "Hey Now" whilst, at the other extreme, the pensive intensity of "Alive" or gentle melody of "Tug Of War" demonstrate their versatility. The big labels keep hyping at us the latest lovelies in leather pants and "cool" haircuts, but for me the best Christian music coming out of America is independent, and Wide Awake are every bit as good as anything you'll find emanating from Nashville.

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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