So This Is It

Pop music with a message — whether the message is political or religious — can be a dicey proposition. The more important the message is to the singer, the less important the music is liable to be, and too often the result is music that's either thoughtlessly abrasive or saccharine-sweet and lyrics that are either obnoxiously self-righteous or gratingly pious. On her solo debut, Kim Dexter, former bandleader of Mayfair Laundry, is clearly primarily concerned with getting a message across; it's one equally informed by her fervent faith and by a sense of personal loss, and it's explicitly aimed at others who are hurting and who share her faith or who may at least be susceptible to her spiritual arguments. But while the lyrics are didactic to the point of artlessness (sample lyric: "We need Jesus/Nothing less, nothing more/We need Jesus now/More than ever before"), she does a good job of keeping the music light and enjoyable without letting it get overly sweet. Even unbelievers will have a hard time resisting the sparkling pop charms of "Kiss the Son" and "Wait (I'm Gonna Get There)." And "Fill Me Up" is flat-out disco, complete with wacka-wacka guitars and a string section. Nothing wrong with that. "But Mostly I Love You" is fairly muscular country-rock (and no points for guessing whom it is she mostly loves), but "We Miss You" is a bit ponderous — and it marks the beginning of a puzzlingly lame ending to this mostly very enjoyable album. "We Miss You," followed by the final two tracks, bring the program to a close with more of a whimper than a bang. Recommended overall.