Stavesacre / Denison Marrs - EP

If you're not old enough to realize how much Denison Marrs singer Eric Collins sounds like Bono, then you'll probably notice how much he sounds like Coldplay's Chris Martin on this, the band's second album. And on the album's first track, a sturdy rocker titled "Disappear," guitarist Daniel Day sounds an awful lot like the Edge as well. But on most of the rest of the album the U2 similarities are limited to Collins' voice and inflections, which at times border on slavish imitation. Like most of their labelmates, Denison Marrs are explicitly Christian in their lyrical outlook, as song titles like "You Are Everything" and "Secret Sinners" suggest and lines like "We are saved by grace" and "We hold the truth of all truths inside" make pretty clear. Because the band tried to "let the songs do what they wanted to do" this time out, the songs aren't terribly hooky or tightly crafted. But they do pack an impressive sonic wallop and they generally have a sort of organic cohesiveness that works especially nicely on "War Against Unlove" and the chunky, assertive "Dancing Over Me." Recommended.