“You’ve heard the flood, now feel the rhythm.”

So goes the slogan used to market one of the latest in a exponentially growing list of modern worship bands. I have to admit, I was intrigued when I first heard about Circadian Rhythm’s arrival on the Christian music scene a few months ago. After building up an independent following, the band got signed to 40 Records, a fledgling label formed to create a home for culturally relevant new worship artists. Depending on who you talk to, the word “worship artist” may be a bit of an oxymoron, since the recent frenzy of worship music flooding the Christian music scene has made it hard to discern whether we’re all in it for the glory of God, money, or just our own amusement. Perhaps all three. In any case, my interest in Circadian Rhythm was temporarily squelched the first time I heard their breakout single, “Beautiful Savior”. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but it sounded like a cookie-cutter praise song to me – a song several Gen-X groups would likely pick up for their weekly worship services, but that seemed more focused on taking easy-to-learn lyrics and marrying them to run-of-the-mill Christian rock. Sure, the “Rhythm” component was there, and the song rocked, but it was missing that distinctive spark of originality. Oh, well, I figured. There will be plenty more worship bands foisted upon me before the end of the year.

Obviously, my curiosity still got the best of me, or I wouldn’t be reviewing this CD. Indeed, I found that despite the well-worn path traveled by “Beautiful Savior”, I had to admit to myself that it worked. After getting it stuck in my head one early morning before work (thanks to my alarm clock picking the track off of a sampler CD I had left in the player the night before), I decided that even if Over Under Everything had nothing to offer but simple and catchy praise songs, there was a pretty good chance that at least a few of them would speak to me, or get stuck in my head, or both. So I downloaded the album’s 10 other songs and gave the band a fair chance. It took me a few listens to shake off my artistic snobbery, and in all fairness, I found a few of the tracks to be lyrically deep, or musically well-constructed, or just plain good. I ended up buying the disc a few weeks later, sensing the need for an antidote to the mostly melancholy and soul-searching music I was listening to in the wake of a difficult breakup. That doesn’t mean that Circadian Rhythm writes shallow songs. They have proven themselves to be quite a passionate band, and even if the lyrics are a bit sparse (a problem that marred the otherwise perfect album put out by likeminded band The Benjamin Gate at around the same time), I find that the album is a pretty good tool for bringing me out of a frustrated mood and into a worshipful one.

Or at least, the first half of it is.

Beautiful Savior
Hear the sounds of Heaven’s song
Listen as the people sing along…
As expected, the band’s first hit starts the album off, fading in with an electronic rhythm and a somewhat out-of-place female voice that sounds like it were taken from an exercise video. It’s a bit of a cheesy start, though her repeated mention of the “rhythmic break” serves as an appropriate intro while the band shifts into high gear. This song rocks strong, as I mentioned earlier, with solid drums and energetic guitar fills, the sounds sweeping around the listener and adding more power to the otherwise simple lyrics. Lead singer Will Pavone puts in a strong performance here – he’s no Martin Smith in the lyrical department, but he also isn’t as whiny as Martin can get sometimes. Despite the obvious Delirious?/U2 overtones in several of the songs, Circadian appears to be fully American, though they do a decent job at picking some of the best elements out of the British rock revival that helped to start the ball rolling on this massive worship trend. The theme of the song fits with the music, describing the omnipresence of Christ, and promising Him, “Beautiful Savior, I’ll be forever by your side”, punctuated by some energetic “Yeah!”s from the band in the background.

Where You Go
Savior I surrender my will, wanting to be near You
At Your footstool I will render all my love…
This song takes a more pleasant, less aggressive route, remaining upbeat and poppy, but not rocking nearly as much as the first song. Thematically, it follows up on the last song with another catchy chorus, as Will and the guys dedicate themselves to following Jesus wherever He may take them. The song keeps the beat softer and the guitar work more subtle during the verses, incorporating a few quirky stops and starts during the second verse, and injecting a tad more power into the chorus, but nothing terribly fancy. The song will likely do well as a radio hit (being the second track, we can bet it will be released), though it probably won’t grab as much attention as the first single did.

We Are Hungry
Lord, I need more of You
Living breath of life, come and fill me up…
Not surprisingly, the band slows things down here for a standard worship ballad, driven along by a prominent drum beat and a bass line that sounds quite a bit like U2’s “With or Without You” sped up. (Just about everyone in the band lists U2 as an influence, and it’s usually a welcome one, even if it’s a bit cliché in the world of rock music at this point.) If you thought the past two songs were lyrically simple, then this is about as bare-bones as it gets, with a short verse repeated twice and a repetitive chorus. So far, Circadian isn’t doing such a hot job of standing out – this tune actually becomes quite compelling once a sweet, sad violin begins to meander among the guys’ harmonies, but it could have just as easily been recorded by SonicFlood, Delirious?, Matt Redman, et cetera, et cetera, and likely with a little more lyrical meat on its bones. Its 6-minute-plus length also seems to be a subtle shot at hooking the Delirious? crowd (not that they’ve cornered the market on long, repetitive worship songs, but they do tend to write some of the most memorable ones in that category), and that would be just fine if the song had more of a rising and falling dynamic. Lengthy Delirious? songs usually allow for some band jamming and lyrical improvisation; here, the music remains rather steady, built upon only by the violin and a chorus who joins in not too long before the instruments cut out completely, leaving only gentle synths and Will’s echoing voice. The lines that close out the song are compelling: “We lift our holy hands up/We want to touch You/We lift our voices higher, and higher, and higher to You”, and this song would likely be quite memorable if the music went higher and higher to match (see the “fly away”s at the end of Delirious?’s “Investigate” for a good example of this). Instead, it ends up running about a minute too long, but it’s still enjoyable.

Something Glorious
Come again, come and strike me down
I want to lose these doubts that feed upon me…
Here we have the album’s first truly great track. Again, the British influence is obvious – this one leads off with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, creating a soundscape somewhat like an earthier version of Coldplay’s “Shiver” (though they don’t have the ringing guitar thing down like Coldplay does). The tune is masterful at building its momentum, and Andy Zipf’s vocals are a welcome change of pace (Will’s are nice, but not all that distinctive, whereas Andy sounds like an amalgamation of Dan Haseltine from Jars of Clay, Derek Webb from Caedmon’s Call, and Jon Foreman from Switchfoot). Any worship song that leads off with the line “Come and strike me down” is bound to intrigue me. Andy’s approach is very earnest, sweetly begging for God to bring about “something glorious”, something life-altering. The song’s lyrics approach the prowess of Jars of Clay – the line “burst my laggard soul” sounds like it should have been included in an extra verse from Much Afraid’s closing “Hymn”. Speed that song up and inject aggressive guitars and lush strings where appropriate (not to mention a lovely piano bridge), and you’ve got this one. It’s a refreshing song of yearning for the “day of atonement”. The only drawback is its lack of a distinct chorus – that might hold it back from inclusion in worship services. But perhaps I’m just being picky.

Gloria
I try to sing this song
I try to get in, but I can’t find the door…
Rock on! Given the band’s apparent obsession with all things U2, it should come as no surprise that Circadian makes an attempt to cover U2 at some point on this CD. As far as U2’s back catalog go, their second album October seems largely overlooked by fans and the band alike, and when I went back and listened to their version of "Gloria" from the early 80’s, it seemed a bit awkward to have such simple English verses matched with a solemn Latin chorus. Still, the song stood above most 80’s rock, in my opinion (hey, I’m not a big fan of the 80’s), and Circadian has more than done it justice here. Andy Zipf’s energetic guitar leads seem like a dead-on impression of how The Edge might play the song if recording it in 2001, and Will’s passionate vocals would do Bono proud (as much as U2 gets covered, I have to wonder how many cover versions they get to actually hear, or care to, for that matter). Somehow, the Latin chorus (“Gloria in te domine/Gloria exultate”) doesn’t seem as out of place here as it did in the original. Maybe it just works better in a worship context, which is no surprise, given the devout and eager nature of U2 in their early days. What drives this version over the top is the children’s chorus that joins in at the end and takes the song home with them – you wouldn’t expect it to work, but it does. This one should tear up the charts as the album’s second single – let’s just hope the song doesn’t get as abused as "40" has.

Into You
I took for granted breath
I do not breathe alone
I was not made to fill my lungs here…
This song is a little slower, thicker, and perhaps even bluesier than the preceding tracks, dominated by thick guitars, but choosing to carry itself with restraint. Something in the mix seems a little sludgy here – I can’t quite put my finger on it. The drums seem limp, as they do in much of the back half of the album. Will and Andy trade off vocals on this one, and the song is mostly successful – a slow-burning rock ballad from the point of view of the prodigal son. It falls back on the usual pop/rock cliché of using strings to add to the drama, but they’re welcome and not intrusive, so they can stay. The song may not be as musically interesting as the last two tracks, but the boys’ passionate charm manages to win me over enough to make this one a keeper.

Ever My Love
Your adoration comes on waves undaunted
To drown the faithless hands of my devotion…
If something sounds similar here, then skip back three tracks and you’ll figure out what it is. The 6/8 rhythm and quick tempo are almost identical to “Something Glorious”, and Andy’s tasty voice dominates the song once again. The tune isn’t all that similar, but it’s also not all that different. The main difference is that this song pretty much rocks all the way through, where “Something Glorious” took longer to build up steam. Both songs are effectively compelling – this one is a simple love song to God, backed by the pummeling waves of guitars and drums that crash into each other in simple, blissful harmony. The lyrics seem a bit more medieval or even Biblical in their approach: “Ever my fortress, ever a bastion strong.” It would have been nice to see how some appropriately exotic instrumentation could have taken this song to the next level, but as a standard rock tune, it’s still quite satisfying.

More Like You
My confidence is bare from lack of trust in You
I’m broken and afraid, so strip the walls I’ve made
So I can be renewed…
Here is when the CD begins to show us its dull side. A rather lifeless countdown starts off this song, and as you might guess from the title, it’s a simple prayer to be more like God. The music is scaled back enough to maintain a tranquil, meditative mood, but when all you’ve got is raw drums and guitars, it doesn’t sound very exciting. The production on this entire album is rather pop-oriented, meaning that the instruments generally shine through only when they won’t get in the way of the vocals, and meaning that the slow songs tend to shy away from having much of an edge (“Into You” being a slight exception). It just seems like this song needs to break out of its dull pattern and either become more edgy or more pretty, or both in different places. I hate to be so critical (I’ve been flamed for picking apart worship albums before), but everything about this song just seems mediocre – the tune, the lyrics, the musical accompaniment. It’s not distracting enough to jolt me out of a worshipful mood, but it only barely helps to maintain that mood.

Let Us Gather
Let us gather there beside
The host of Heaven in fervent adoration…
Interestingly, when I first got the track listing for this album, this track was placed last, its position swapped with the buzzing rocker “Sounds of a Revolution”. I had also inadvertently downloaded a more pensive version, likely from one of Circadian’s independent recordings, that kept rather quiet and simple, much like “We Are Hungry” without the strong beat. Then I bought the CD and heard the “new” version, and I’m not quite sure if it works. It starts off slow, which really drags down the momentum of the CD after “More Like You”, and while the lyrics are a simple and effective call for the people of God to come and worship Him, the music seems rather schizophrenic. It was as if the guys switched the track order at the last minute and were forced to come up with a way to make this song not sound so out of place. So, they decided to speed it up as the song went along. I mentioned before that it would have been nice to see some of the other songs build up energy like a good Delirious? song – here, they seem to be attempting that, but the tempo seems to change abruptly rather than gradually, and a few odd production effects here and there only add to the distractions. I also mentioned enjoying a few lyrics here and there that seemed more “literary” – here, an attempt to bring in a more archaic word sticks out like a sore thumb. The chorus: “As we gather for You, we bring supplication” sounds rather forced. I almost want to quote Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride: “You keep on using that word. I do not think that it means what you think it means.” Or maybe it does, but it just sounds so out of place among the otherwise dumbed-down lyrics. There are some compelling chord changes as the song builds to its close and Will repeatedly calls, “Let us gather, saints arise!”, and perhaps this song would have worked if they had expanded more on the idea of translating a repetitive, liturgical, archaic expression of worship into a modern rock setting. As it is, the drums and guitars suddenly fall away into melancholy strings which soon fade out. It’s all a bit abrupt.

Raise
Unto You I lift my voice
Let it be a sacrifice of humble praise in You…
This song kicks in rather quickly, creating a nice transition that made me think for a second that the “new” track order might make some sense (but I’ve switched it back and found that I still like the old order). It was wise to put a more upbeat tune as the second-to-last track on this album, though I have to say this one seems a bit sterilized. It’s a clap-happy pop/rock number, not too far removed from Delirious?’s “Waiting for the Summer”, if you were to remove the insipid female vocals, and any semblance of a prominent lead guitar. Seriously – this song seems like they had recorded a great guitar part to carry the whole thing along and then forgot to mix it in during the final stages of production. Sure, the guitars are there, but they seem rather muted, along with the drum, and all that leaves us with is a struggling tempo and another repetitive chorus. Nice little abrupt ending, though.

Sounds of a Revolution
In stillness burning like water pure and placid
Your spirit moving, Your spirit stirring me…
Interestingly, the band pulls a fast one on the final track, choosing to place a guitar-dominated rocker at the end instead of a heartfelt acoustic ballad or something that you might expect to close out a worship album. Indeed, this song seems more like a rallying cry than a worship song – perhaps it’s a benediction of sorts. The lyrics are still directed to God, though the buzz of the guitars very nearly drowns everything out. I still think this one worked better as track 9 than as track 11, but most folks who buy worship albums probably won’t care. In any case, the song starts off quiet and ominous as Will describes the Spirit of God moving over his people, and the tune soon picks up, launching into a full-force chorus: “This is the sound of a revolution!” Once again, some enthusiastic “Yeah!”s can be heard in the background. The boys must have had a good time playing their hearts out on this one, even though I think the drums are still a bit limp and certain parts of the song are a bit flat. I can detect the influence of other modern Christian bands here, especially PfR (Andy is a dead ringer for Patrick Andrew when he breaks in singing, “I’m beginning to know the sound of Your voice). Something about this song feels like it could have been so much stronger, and I can’t help but suspect that the producers were playing it safe. You’d expect an extended jam, a ripping guitar solo, or something, but the song simply fades out. Putting the CD on repeat ties the two ends together quite nicely as “Beautiful Savior” fades back in, but ending with this song otherwise just doesn’t feel right. Perhaps I would have preferred the typical ending – man, am I hard to please today!

Despite my qualms with the production and the sparseness of the lyrics (which is painfully obvious if you look in the liner notes, but then again, PfR’s latest album had much the same problem), I do still enjoy this CD and recommend it. My recommendation, though, is marginal. If you want a good pick-me-up and you enjoy energetic rock music with a worshipful attitude, Circadian Rhythm will provide you with a quick fix. But then, you could probably do better with Tree63 or The Benjamin Gate. I wouldn’t expect this album to fill in the gap left by SonicFlood, or to contend with anything Delirious? has done, and obviously most of my readers would prefer much more in the way of lyrical prowess than is offered here. Still, there’s nothing terribly annoying or contrived about this CD – it does its job and the band truly shines on a few of the tracks. Give ‘em time – if they stay afloat in the increasingly crowded modern worship pool, they might go places once they have time to travel and play around with different producers, and delve deeper lyrically. Let’s just hope that the next album isn’t a rehash - Over and Over Again Everything.

(By the way, since I forgot to mention it earlier, “Circadian Rhythm” is a biological term. Loosely translated, it refers to something that has a pattern of dying daily.)

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Gloria, Something Glorious, Beautiful Savior
Good: Ever My Love, Where You Go, We Are Hungry, Into You
Decent: As We Gather, Sounds of a Revolution
Weak: More Like You, Raise
Skippable: NONE

Band Members:
Will Pavone: Lead vocals
Andy Zipf: Lead guitar, vocals
Dan Cuomo: Drums, vocals
Aaron Paganini: Rhythm guitar
Paul Barber : Bass

Website: http://www.circadianrhythm.com


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Cleaning the House