Artist: Adelaide
Album: Overtired & Ill Prepared
Label: Word of Mouth Records
Tracks: 11
Review By: Jacob Gehman

In music, no matter how shallow the concept sounds, it all boils down to a band’s name. Consider, for instance, Big Dismal. No one wants to listen to an artist who sounds like a depressed rag, especially in the Christian market. Similarly, no non-southern gospel act should even think about calling themselves The McClurg Family Singers unless they want to spend their life opening for acts like The Martins, The Hagee Family, The Hoppers, and The Booth Brothers.

As The McClurg Family Singers they (now known as Adelaide) released one album, “…in a Fading Breath,” that met with some decent reviews in Christian circles. Their new cd is getting some added attention simply because Adelaide is such a considerable upgrade over their prior band name. In fact for the poetically inclined Adelaide offers a lot of rhyming possibilities. Consider:

Oh! Hey, here comes Adelaide!
Not sour like yesterday’s lemonade,
Which can be sipped under lovely shade,
It’s not lonely as an old maid,
(Who is frail and requiring first aid)
Indeed they can be her ageless Band-Aid!
Oh yeah, that is our Adelaide.

Sadly, the music of “Overtired & Ill Prepared” does not inspire similar poetic outbursts. While it is performed solidly enough, the songwriting feels tired and uninspired. Only half way through the album starts to get rather boring. The decent tracks are reminiscent of a less energized, less emotional The Evan Anthem. The rest of the album is merely skip-worthy filler we’ve heard before from countless indie rock bands, though it is fitting in context of the rest of the album.

If you are a fan of the genre, you may find enough interesting tracks to warrant the purchase, especially if you only feel comfortable with Christian music. Otherwise, there is no real reason to bother checking this album out. Unless, that is, you are planning on needing to rhyme something with “outrageously underpaid” in the not too distant future.