Surrogate
Love is for the Rich
Tooth & Nail
5.4/10

By David Sessions

For releasing their debut on an outfit as well-established as Tooth & Nail, it sure is impossible to find out anything about Surrogate, like who they claim as influences. But we do get, from the limited sources available, that they are “indie pop,” have “melodies” and are at certain moments “lush.” However annoying the diction of the sparse press material, it’s good to see Tooth & Nail picking up an artist that doesn’t sound completely similar to the entire remainder of their catalog.

Getting to know Love is for the Rich naturally takes several listens, but it’s a different experience from getting into say, a Spoon record. With Spoon, known for indie pop with an experimental edge, you are trying to wrap your mind around quirky eccentricity that you know you’ll love if you “get” it. With Surrogate, there’s nothing really to “get,” but it takes a while to convince yourself that you can keep listening to it. And you grow to appreciate it after several spins, but not, necessarily, to like it. The blame is probably owed to Christopher Keene’s vocals, which are at times so flat and whiny that I could never bear an entire record of it. And unfortunately for the solid instrumentation they’ve put together here, no one else will either.

Leadoff grower “Shift the Blame” is lyrically unsure if it wants to be a petulant tattle-tale on gossip or an incisive glimpse into the darker sides of small-town social interaction. What the song could have been is intriguing enough—and the music easy enough to listen to—that it’s hard not to like. The record’s one masterpiece, “15,” gets right what most of the tracks don’t: eclectic instruments, including strings and glockenspiel, play off a subtly seductive riff that exemplifies the detail orientation that should make this record a highlight of Christian music’s fall releases. I said should.

“Photographic Memory,” like most of the tracks, would be better without vocals – a perfect lilting rhythm, mobile bass line, and organ imitations are only marred by Keene’s lifeless vocal delivery. “Death Penalty” and “Problem Solving” are more causalities of unsure, meandering melody with way too many words that aren’t lyrics. Both tracks are almost-perfect, enjoyable musical acts, but are impossible to take serious on account of singing that inexplicably grates against their very essence. While they are not cohesive in any manner (and the record need about four fewer of them), one near-perfect song after another ticks by that, even after several listens, one wants to love but cannot.

It’s hard to bring a record down on one element out of a generally strong mixture, but vocals definitely do this one no favors. It makes sense that weak melody composition is also a culprit, because Keene isn’t a bad singer and doesn’t even have a bad voice. Even so, he simply can’t carry these songs. From the exponential degrees better he sounds during the soft, hushed moments, it leads one to believe that he’d work well in a sort of Damien Rice, storyteller-with-a-lone-guitar role. Or then on the other hand, maybe a punk band. But a voice so completely devoid of emotion is unworkable for indie pop, and it is what keeps Surrogate from the acclaim their music deserves.

David Sessions is the editor of The CCM Patrol.