LABEL: INO RECORDS
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 25, 2007

his past summer I was a counselor at a Christian summer youth camp. Toward the tail end of the week, they held a talent contest. I freely admit my stand-up act got booed off the stage. However, there were a lot of terrible singing acts that didn’t get booed off. Then I realized something. It’s because they were singing about Jesus and no one wants to gong someone who’s singing about Jesus. That’s just not right.

But, Steve Fee (and band) isn’t performing in a summer youth camp talent show. He’s got a record deal—which is why I expected more out of this album. As a matter of fact, as I listened to the entire album I couldn’t help but think, “Are…you…serious?” His new album, We Shine is a testament to why people think Christian music is hokey.

Just look at these lyrics from the title track, “We Shine”:

Yeah! Yeah! We shine! We shine in the light of God! And when we speak, we speak with words of love! And when we dance we make it a little wild! Cause we’re the people God! Yeah! The people of God!

And when we sing, we sing the angel’s songs! The ones they’re singing around the throne! Yeah! Yeah! We worship the king with everything that we are! Cause we’re the people of God! Yeah! The people of God!

And he doesn’t get a pass just because its “worship” music.  In the Old Testament, the temple choir would practice for a year before entering the temple to sing. Their songs were obviously meant to usher people into the presence of God, just as I’m sure Fee means for their music to be. Somehow, though, Fee misses that mark…by a longshot. This is not about entertainment, either. Many people feel as if they have not been entertained or if they have not personally felt connected to God through the music that they have somehow been ripped off. That’s not the problem. The problem is that We Shine lacks excellence.

As far as musicianship goes, this kind of music was being played about ten years ago. There’s not much here that made me sit up and take notice. While this is Fee’s freshman album as an INO Records recording artist, he had a relatively successful career as an indie artist before that and currently serves as artist in residence at North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA.

The one ray of sunshine is “Beautiful the Blood.” This song is what the whole album could have been, especially given the company Fee keeps. Instead, it makes me grateful that you can buy songs individually on iTunes. It’s the only song on the album I can honestly recommend.

–C. E’Jon Moore