Copious Notes

Fireflight are guitarist Glenn Drennen, guitar and vocalist Justin Cox, lead singer Dawn Michele, drummer Phee Shorb, and bassist Wendy Drennen.

There is one reason the release of Fireflight‘s new album is an event in Christian rock: Unbreakable.

The song was a massive hit for the Orlando-based band, garnering mainstream exposure as well as Christian-market stardom. It was the sort of song that can launch a band to the next level, if the band is truly ready to go there.

Unfortunately, For Those Who Wait really makes Unbreakable seem like a singular stroke of genius rather than a genuine sign of artistic growth. Nothing on the new album matches the intensity or creativity of that song, an interpretation of Jesus saving an adulterous woman from stoning.

The album starts off earnestly with strings that curiously echo The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby ushering in the title track. Then we are off on a steady stream of soaring, glossy anthems that blend into one another. Many of them seem to be trying to recapture that Unbreakable magic — gritty power rock with soaring vocals about overcoming adversity — but they just don’t quite get there. The word “overproduced” leaps to mind, as you get the sensation of a band trying too hard to be perfect. Name, for it’s quiteness, is maybe the most striking track on the album. But for a hospital ballad, it is surprisingly unmoving, reminding listeners of the Superchick classic We Live rather than drawing them into this song.

And therein lies the major problem: Despite a singular hit, Fireflight seems more inclined to sound like other bands than find its own voice.

If you want to see the Kentucky entries into the Southeastern Theatre Conference‘s high school theater festival Thursday and Friday at the Lexington Opera House, you need to be a registered attendee of the SETC convention.

But, you don’t have to be a convention goer or wait if you want to see the shows.

You can catch performances of Owensboro High School’s Almost Maine and Paul Laurence Dunbar High’s Taming of the Shrew at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Dunbar High. These are the shows that won the Kentucky Theatre Association‘s competition last fall at Morehead State University and will compete to bring Kentucky a victory in the SETC festival this weekend.

Unfortunately, if you are a local conventioneer wanting to support the Lexington entires into the SETC festivals, you’ll have to choose between Dunbar and Balagula Theatre’s Samuel Beckett plays at the Guignol Theatre. Both play at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.