Plumb
“Chaotic Resolve”
Curb Records
14 tracks @ 60:34

Here’s another contender for my “favorite disk of the year.” During an interview with my music video program 30-CC, Plumb told us that “Chaotic Resolve” is her most “me” record to date. I don’t know enough about her record label situation to comment, but interestingly, this record was completed in March of 2005. However, it wasn’t released until February, 2006.

The first single, "I Can’t Do This,” with its growling guitar during the chorus, is a desperate cry for help. While the lyrics are generic, Plumb told us that the meaning of the song is that we need Christ in our lives, we cannot go through life alone or on our own. This runs counter to what American culture teaches us about independence and self-sufficiency. The song ends with a decrescendo that may reflect the relief one experiences when surrendering all to God, or the exhaustion one feels when trying to do everything by oneself.

The current single “Better” seems inspired by Paul’s letters. It’s an outstanding song about the trials of life, which when they come along not only test you but by extension can also test others in your life, make us better. “But in the end, what leaves you broken makes you better.”

“Good Behavior” is a grunge-like rocker while “Motion” would make a cool cross-over song. The trumpets hark back to KC and the Sunshine Band, but this is definitely a modern rocker, not disco. My wife says that song could get you a speeding ticket.

“I Have Nothing” starts grunge but swerves into the quirky with its disco-bottle rockets and tongue trills. It’s a strong track about how we enter and leave this life with nothing material, yet laments “oh why do I put so much time in things I leave behind.”

“Sleep,” inspired by Plumb’s first-born child, finishes with a stethoscopic heart beat. “Blush (Only You)” has a groovy retro-sliding guitar right out of Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.”

“Cut” is an all-too-real song dedicated to those who suffer from cutting or self-injury. “Tears that still drip sore” may be the lyric of the year.

One of the bonus tracks is a cover of Michael W. Smith’s “Pray for Me” which Plumb jacks up and thus makes it uniquely her own.

Highly recommended.

- Rob S.