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Craig McKenzie: Surrender

Craig McKenzie has been writing pop and hip hop material for much of his life, releasing the EP ‘Real’ with trio Partisan in the mid 1990s and the album ‘Jumphouse’ with hip hop/pop duo Summix in 2001. This debut solo album continues the theme, and was recorded and produced in his bedroom, with help from Andrew Buckton before being sent to Sterling Sound in New York for mastering. The tracks are radio-friendly, especially single Funky Little Hip Hop Angel, and the heavier title track, which has a harder guitar sound. The effect however overwhelms at times, the keyboards, synths and guitars creating a wall of music that is at points over-produced and reminiscent of power-pop bands of a decade ago. McKenzie is capable with the technical aspects of programming loops and beats, but many of these songs would have benefited from a simpler approach when recorded. His smooth voice suits the material well, and the songs tackle love, life and relationships, with his Christian faith apparent in a number of the lyrics, for instance in Beautiful Child and Return of the King.