Reviewed by Dave Drodge

Paradigm Shift are two guys from Dallas, Texas who got snapped up by Scott Blackwell after appearing as an unsigned act at last year's Cornerstone Fest. Promisingly, the album fuses together funky retro grooves and cheesy guitars into a mellowed out spacy trip-house melange, of most interest to DJs and their ilk, since the minimalist arrangements are only likely to appeal to hardened dance fans. Lyrically, it's a bit of a disappointment. What could so easily have transmitted the bold statements on the publicity blurb into the music turn out to be mainly of the 'get down' and 'oh baby' variety. The packaging is just as ambiguous (and very shoddy). Thankfully it's not all bad. The musical ideas are cleverly executed and there are songs which score in the right areas, like "Burning Love" and "Lullaby" but these, like many of the tracks, run into each other DJ-mix-album style and there isn't enough variation to tell you where one song ends and the next one starts. Although the album could prove quite popular if released into the secular marketplace, I have my doubts as to how many Christians are going to want to buy something so radically different without much of the message that would have given it all a sense of purpose.

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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