If you're in the market for another well produced, highly commercial, lush, confessional, big sounding record from a post-grunge baritone, then Jeremy Camp has a record out you should hear. More vocally pure than many of the garblers, but more safely produced than most of the modern rock records in the marketplace these days, Camp's BEC Recordings debut is bound to be a huge hit with youth pastors, Christian radio programmers and younger kids into Lifehouse, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20, Creed, Staind and 12 Stones.
In addition to the quiet verse / big chorus formula, and the lower range lead vocals, Camp brings lyrics that frequently reflect very worshipful attitudes and ideas with a backdrop of heartache. Having seen his young bride die of cancer only months into their marriage, Camp mines his hurts and struggles and comes up with worshipful songs that sound firmly rooted in the real world. To Camp it's all about staying the course, persevering and walking by faith. In a genre steeped in self-pity and psuedo-poetic angst, Camp's hard-won faith is startling in its freshness. Unfortunately, the record sits so comfortably between high-polish guitar pop and driving mod-rock it fails to blow the house down on either front. Stay is an impressive debut to be sure. It is his songwriting, however, that sets Jeremy Camp apart, certainly not his sound.
Editors' ratings — Doug 2/5, David 2/5
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