What a difference a few years can make! The last time I paid any serious attention to Eric Champion's music he was doing dance/club music. That wasn't really my style at the time, so I ignored his music for a while. Listening to Natural, it is clear that his style has changed.
He's still the keyboard and synth wizard he has always been, but instead of heading down a Joy Electric-style pathway, he's gone along the route of blending dance and hard rock, more like Fold Zandura. Though he is a solo artist, his more-or-less permanent touring band contribute positively to this record, giving it a solid, live band feeling instead of a hollow collection of purely studio tracks. The bass, drums, and synth lines give the music its pop sound, while the guitars give it the harder edge.
There's no single central theme to the album, but there are two major cornerstones on which Champion has based his songwriting on this album. Like All Star United (which also sports a former dance-pop musician singing and writing), Champion writes about the "me-ism" inherent in pop music and, often, in being a member of North American Christianity. This is especially evident in the opening track, "Am I Looking Good?"
Stop preacher cop preacher mess with my role I wish that plastic surgery could work for my soul... Am I looking good? The glitz and the glamour are the only things that matter.
Similarly, "Just Me" states:
My very best friends are Jesus, I, myself, and me. But if I had to pick the one I couldn't live without, There'd be no doubt; I'd point my gorgeous finger at me.
The second major focus of the songwriting is the need to trust in God completely and not on our own strength. With this thought in mind, like all good satirists, Champion gives an alternative vision to "me-ism" in "I Am Nothing," as he pleads,
Take me to the fire, Burn me up alive, I am nothing, I'm nothing Without Your love.
This theme is carried out in many of the other tracks of the album, also.
While the album is essentially no less than what you could expect from a maturing artist who is becoming a little more wise as time goes by, it seems to be more than just that. Champion's ongoing ability to write catchy and relevant pop music which fits the style of the time without easily becoming dated is obvious here. This album is bound to garner some new fans and win some old ones (like me) back. Newsboys, Fold Zandura and All Star United fans should give this one a spin.
Other coverage for this album
7ball #19Reviewed by Dan MacIntoshHow many times has somebody told you to "act natural"? Sounds like good advice, doesn't it? Eric Champion begs to differ. His new album, Natural, argues that not only is this opening statement bad grammar, it's also deceptively bad advice. Acting naturally involves following what our nature tells us to do. But because our untrustworthy nature is a flawed piece of equipment, such behavior leads to…The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Daren Allder1996's Transformation album saw the consolidation of Eric Champion's bright new rock/dance fusion, replete with crunching guitars and assorted synth bleepery. The time was right for such a beast, riding the last few breakers of the early/mid 90's tide of grunge, and simultaneously fuelling the public's need for something a little new. This was the era of the similar-sounding Babylon Zoo, who…Similar sounding releases
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