Christian music always has been an anomaly in the music world. Christian bands sing about Jesus instead of their girlfriends and salvation instead of alcohol binges. With Mat Kearney's Nothing Left To Lose, however, he tries to give Christian music an edge. Kearney uses the stereotypical easy-listening rock sound for the majority of his songs but also fuses something you wouldn't expect in a Christian record: Rap.
The record starts off innocently enough, fading in with simple guitar and vocals. But 37 seconds in, Kearney throws listeners a curveball. He spits rhymes like a rapper past his prime, perhaps even on his deathbed, putting out an album to pay for his prescriptions.
His delivery is exactly what to expect from a white kid from the mean streets of Oregon: No soul, no flavor, just a guy trying to preach his views in a different way but failing miserably.
When he sings, Kearney is no better. He sounds as if he is doing his best Chris Martin impression with the same drawn-out vowels and attempt at sincerity through falsetto. Kearney is not nearly as talented as Martin, though, and Kearney's imitation almost makes you wish he would just rap again.
The biggest problem with Kearney's mixing of rap with easy-listening music is that each demeans the other when placed side-by-side. When Maroon 5's Adam Levine worked with rapper Kanye West on Heard 'Em Say from Late Registration, they produced a surprisingly good song. Kearney shares duties as rapper and vocalist and his transitions are awkward and off-putting.
The subject matter that Kearney sings and raps about is trite and overdone, as well. Troubles with faith, revelation and love are all things that Christian musicians have been doing since the dawn of the genre's creation. However, as other genres continue to evolve, Christian music almost seems as if it doesn't believe in the concept.
I've ran and ran and now there's nothing left behind / I see a picture of a broken man inside / I've tried and tried and now there's nothing left but time
Kearney sings on Wait. That quote is but a sample on an album full of dull lines and uninspiring music.
If Mat Kearney is any correct representation of the rest of the genre, maybe the world is better off burning and listening to satanic warbles and guitar riffs forged in hellfire. 17
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Chris Yonker
