Reviewed by Paddy Hudspith

Fresh-faced, positive message pop rock with a strong country flavour is the calling card of Jason Barton (lead vocals and key songwriter), Chris Lockwood (guitar/vocals) and Collin Stoddard (keyboards/vocals), who as 33Miles offer us a follow-up to their successful debut from 2007. Reminding this reviewer strongly of early Steven Curtis Chapman from his 'The Great Adventure' period, 'One Life' presents catchy, bouncy sing-alongs ("Gone", "Something Different") combined with straightforward lyrics on living the life daily ("Jesus Calling", "Just One Of Those Days"), or more personal confessions of wrong turns taken ("Apologize", the worshipful "My Offering"). The mission statement of the album, and more generally of the band (whose name was inspired by the 33 years which Christ walked the earth) is exemplified in the carpe diem sentiment of "One Life To Love": the challenge to devote your time to what's really important, living a life of love and taking the road (less travelled?) that God opens up before you. Big production names (Brown Bannister, Nathan Nockels, Sam Mizell) tweak knobs expertly resulting in a soundscape of effortless, if unchallenging, quality, and all-in-all I can see 'One Life' hitting the spot with a wide range of listeners, from tweenie pop fan-ettes to their grandparents, collecting admirers of a good old-fashioned hummable tune along the way.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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