Running Back to You

iTunes Review

Chris Sligh faced the judges on American Idol’s sixth season armed with an outstanding voice and a whole lot of attitude. He didn’t win, but did manage to impress a vast TV audience along the way. Running Back to You finds him swimming comfortably in the Christian music mainstream, offering confessions and hosannas with unaffected fervor. Sligh’s purity of tone and sure feel for dynamics grab the listener immediately — from the anthemic “Arise” onwards, he sounds fully energized and engaged. Much of the album veers towards worship music, with “Cry Tonight,” “Love is Raining Down,” and “Empty Me” standing out as unfettered declarations of belief. “Potential” (a meditation on growing older set to a pulsating track) and “Vessel” (intimately sung with guitar and string accompaniment) draw something personal out of familiar Christian themes. Small details — such as Sligh’s soulful falsetto vocals on the baroque-tinged “Loaded Gun” — give this album a distinctive character. Producer Brown Bannister takes an effectively versatile approach here, adding hard rock grit to “Something Beautiful” and power-pop glide to “Waiting for You.”