CHRISTIANsongs

Joy Electric make savvy, sweet, supremely catchy synth-pop ditties that glorify Christ. The joyous songs on Christiansongs are sung and composed by Ronnie Martin in a breathy, high-pitched voice and are performed exclusively on old-school analog synthesizers, vocoders, and the like--no fancy, new-fangled samplers or drum machines here. Think Gary Numan, New Order, or Soft Cell, without that heavy air of late-night decadence. It's an exceptionally effective formula and the retro elements are handled with unironic, straightforward simplicity. All of Martin's songs give praise and the majority are based on passages from scripture (which are printed below the lyrics). The beautiful, fast-paced "Lift up Your Hearts," for instance, is based on Timothy 6:12 and concludes with the lyrics, "Are they ashamed to bear the name / When all the while they fool themselves / With fake acclaim they never get." --Mike McGonigal