Album: Come Undone
Artist: Jackson Waters
Label: Word
Sounds like: Casting Crowns, Third Day, Mercyme

Sitting somewhere near Casting Crowns and Third Day, Jackson Waters don’t tug quite so hard on the heartstrings and add funkier aspects, such as the Maroon 5 riffing of “Give me amazing grace,” or amp up the silvery, rocketing guitars on the title track. Like many American bands of their kind, they want to borrow the sounds of bands like Coldplay (check out how “Center of attention” switches gears like Coldplay’s “Fix you”) but play it safe commercially—sometimes quite the juggling act. Sure, they pull out the emotional stops in the big, sugary choruses but they have a big reach sonically and what they don’t do mostly, is come undone.

Nicks rating: 3/5