There's a new piano pop rock band in town named The Swift and you can currently catch them as the opening act on "The Go Show" Tour featuring Audio Adrenaline and Mercy Me. They are a Keith Green-loving band hailing from various sectors of North Carolina to form the quirky, self-proclaimed "positively rollicking, piano-based pop-rock foursome." The Swift were recently signed to Flicker Records, the Audio-A-founding-father Bob Herdman-run label and, on December 24th, let their first LP loose on the world.

The album starts off strong with "'Till I Met You," about our lives before knowing Christ as Savior and is a strong opener. The message of the track clearly shows the two main purposes of the band: 1. Claiming Jesus as Lord; and 2. Giving out some refreshing, much-needed new ear candy for all to hear. "'Till I Met You" ends with the sounds of people in a lounge talking and a little Piano intro that leads right into "Come On," a song warning of how short life is and how little time we have to make choices in it. "Tug of War" is a favorite on the record, being a story about a guy who heads to New York to minister, and is written very tounge-in-cheek, "Bold as a lion, there's no denyin', Tuggie's in New York, preachin' at the dime store. Tuggie save a sinner for me!" "More Than Gold," in a nutshell, is about the groups' adoration for the Bible, "I love Your word, how it speaks to me."

Another entertaining ditty from this record is "He's Making Sunshine," which displays the happiness we get from God's grace while questioning why God loves us despite our unfaithfulness. "Wake Up" is a real emotional song about awakening to God's love that is offered to us. The heartfelt chorus urges, "Wake up for the first time in your life, I know His arms are openwide, He can save you, His love can change you if you let him in." To break away from the serious side, the Swift plugged in this next song about "that kid in your youth group who has the spiked hair and wears the Chuck Converse shoes and breaks pews when he moshes during worship..." in "Moshing Machine." Ok, well, personally, I dont know anyone like this at my church either but this is an entertaining song nonetheless, "Yeah we see you there, Mr. Green hair, pardon me, honestly, we love your shoes but when they are breaking pews can you see, it's irreverency!, we're glad you're here but people live in fear when you're around!" These humorous, campy lyrics are supported with a funky and lighthearted musical backdrop.

"Soften You Heart" doesn't quite measure up to the rest of the record and explains, again, the process of salvation and softening your heart to God's word. The next song, if you didn't know beforehand, would most likely have you confusing it with a Michael W. Smith song with its piano intro, but is a great song either way. "Under The Sun" is about how nothing new is happening in our world, much like how the same lies that being famous and beautiful are the only ways to be truly happy.

This masterpiece of an album ends with an epic and just so happens to be the longest song on the disc, clocking in at nearly six minutes, a song called, "Surround Me." The song speaks of How God consumes us and always knows how to fix all of our problems in life. About 2 minutes into the song, it quotes lines from all of the other songs on this album and is a nice treat if you catch it. Overall, The Swift's self-titled debut is a solide effort, and if you're a fan of Keith Green you will love this band's unique sound. I can't wait to hear some new tunes from this band in the future.