Superchic[k]

Item: Beauty from Pain
Author: Burton Wray

Beauty from Pain

(2005)

Reviewed by Burton Wray

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Label Inpop RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

ccm pop punk pop rock

2005 has seen several female vocalists move from a pop sound to more of a rock sound. The year has also seen more rock chicks than have been in CCM in a while. Most of these CDs though focus on the rock sound and come across as serious and rough and hard. Superchick manages to interject something that has been missing from recent female rock albums...fun. The group made up of two females and three males manages to create a rock album that is paradoxically fun and yet also serious at times. The energy and intensity of the group comes through from the first song to the last. The album manages to combine a rock sound with some pop and even some hip hop thrown in.

The album starts off with "Anthem" which helps set the stage for the rest of the album. It is a fun song sung as an anthem for girls who are willing to get down and dirty. These girls are living paradoxes as they are "girls with skinned knees...concrete and grace". Make no mistake about it though, these are girls who have their "own goals to score...trophies to win". The song that most people will recognize off the album is "Pure." The song starts off with some unique synth before some slow vocals come in featuring a slight hip hop feel.

The most amusing song on the album has to be "Bowling Ball". This song is all about a girl who is with a guy that acts like a jerk and puts her down. The group exhorts the girl that she needs "that boy like a bowling ball dropped on your head / which means not at all / you have too much to give, to live, to waste your time on him." It's a lyric that puts a smile on listeners' faces, even the guy listeners.

Another highlight of this album is the title track "Beauty From Pain." The tempo slows down from previous songs and starts off with the notes from a sole piano before the vocals come in. This song could quite possibly be one of the best of the entire album. It starts off talking about the pain of the singer:

The lights go off around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I Know I'm alive
But I feel like I died

Just as the song so poetically captures the pain of the singer it also captures the hope that the title implies:

After all this has passed
I will still remain
After I've cried my last
There'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today
Someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from pain

This is a group that is not afraid to tackle the hard topics as they deal with relationships gone wrong ("Bowling Ball"), eating disorders, or self esteem issues ("Courage"). Most of the bandmembers went through a tough breakup while making this album. These breakups seem to be alluded to in "Wish," the album's fifth track. The group has said that this was a project that was very personal to them and it shows through in the honesty and openness of the lyrics.

On this album Superchic[k] has managed to create a paradoxical album that has a fun feel and yet also a serious feel.

This is easily one of the best albums so far of 2005. This is one of those CDs where you buy a copy for yourself and a copy to give as a gift for the young people that you know. It could easily be the most meaningful gift they get all year.

4.5 tocks