Don't Wait

Sounds like … the lighter pop side of Rebecca St. James, Natalie Grant, Joy Williams, Nichole Nordeman, and Darlene ZschechAt a glance … Adie's voice is as striking and angelic as ever, but it's mostly accompanied by a soft pop/rock soundtrack that's all too safe and familiarTrack Listing Your Way When It's Over Sufficient Don't Wait (Lazy Day) Overwhelm Me Time If I'll Ever What Have I Done Broken Turn Turn Turn

Some have lightheartedly conjectured that it was Jeremy Camp who broke up The Benjamin Gate, though there is a smidgen of truth to it. At the time, the acclaimed South African band had two albums under their belt and their momentum was on the rise, when suddenly the band decided to call it quits in 2003, much to the chagrin of the building fan base. It wasn't long after that Camp and the group's vocalist Adrienne Liesching got married, leaving many to wonder if that would be the last we heard of the frontwoman's voice.

Three years later, Adrienne is back with her long-rumored solo debut, this time going by her nickname Adie, and adopting a completely different image and sound from her alternative past. Forget she ever had spiky pink hair, donned funky getups, sported futuristic goggles, or wore platform shoes. For that matter, forget she was ever a rock chick. With Don't Wait, Adie appears intent on forging her own identity, apart from a history that may suggest otherwise.

Does she succeed? Only slightly. Rather than standing as an entity all its own, takes on a driving contemporary-pop sound not unlike recent offerings by Joy Williams, Natalie Grant, and other power vocalists. Buzz preceding the album and accompanying press materials say Don't Wait boasts the "electronic pop approach of Frou Frou," but that's misleading—it's innocuous pop/rock, no more, no less.

That's a shame because Adie's voice is too versatile to be confined to a pleasant adult-contemporary box. Her voice continues to be a thing of beauty, and it's always a pleasure to hear, regardless of musical context. But her growl is gone, her delivery isn't as passionate, and the unorthodox expressions of praise that her former band was known for are a thing of the past. It may be a lazy reference point, but Adie now sounds like the female version of her husband—and for all we know, that's possibly what she was going for.