Based out of Carmi, IL, the quartet known as Run Kid Run has once again hit the studio to release their second album, Love At The Core. After releasing their debut, This is Who We Are, in 2006, Run Kid Run has taken a line-up change (welcoming bass player Paul Stewart, former member of the band Slingshot 57), which typically means an overall change in sound. However, Run Kid Run fans need not be let down. These are overall the same guys, the same sound, and the same hearts behind the music. This is quite the same Run Kid Run.
The album opens with “Rescue Me,” a song with a very catchy style similar to “We’ve Only Just Begun” or “Wake Up, Get Up.” Admitting the sometimes fallen spirit inside us all, the song states, “I’ve got a failure condition,” but continues on in a redemptive hope with, “It was your love that rescued me.”
“Captives Come Home” wasn’t quite what I had expected upon reading the title. Offering tons of encouragement and a very fetching chorus, this track screams for a live audience. It does, however, seem a bit out of its element without a crowd singing along. “Fall Into the Light” displays some of the best vocals I’ve heard from David Josiah Curtis, and impressive guitar riffs making me think that this song should be on a Guitar Hero game of some sorts.
Other songs include the love song “One in a Million,” the slightly ambient anthem “Sure shot,” the piano laden and worshipful “My Sweet Escape,” the urgent rocker “The Emergency,” the radio friendly “Set the Dial,” and the moving ballad “Freedom,” which is not only my favorite song on the album, but one of the best written songs I’ve heard in quite some time.
One listen to the title track, “Love at the Core,” leaves no doubt as to why the entire album is named after it. While this song may be the overall theme, it’s much more than that. It’s powerful and one of the best this project offers. “We want love, we want love, love at the core/ so much more of this life/ than we’re reaching for/ we want love.”
The album in its entirety has little to criticize negatively. I will say for anyone who expects a complete re-invention on follow-up albums, this one may disappoint. Run Kid Run hasn’t changed, but merely improved. It seems that they have found where they excel and are not ashamed to keep doing it. I look forward not only to its release, but also hearing these tracks in concert. I would recommend this CD to everyone.
Article by Colie Renken, Writer
