Chris Church - Obsolete Path (2025) Hi-Res

Big Stir are rightly very proud of their prolific artist Chris Church, and are often quick to point out that he “never makes the same album twice.” They’re not wrong there, either.

Obsolete Path – which came out about six weeks ago now, so apologies for my appalling lateness on this one – continues that trend. This time around, early R.E.M. appears to have been a major inspiration for many of the tracks, and those songs stand head and shoulders above the rest. ‘Life On A Trampoline‘ could easily have come off the Athens, Georgia luminaries’ 1984 album Reckoning, while the title track is like if Stipe and co had based their 1983 debut Murmur on Van Morrison‘s Astral Weeks from 15 years before.

Not everything sounds like R.E.M. here though, and the impact of the remaining songs crucially hinges on whether your ears hear them as a nod towards the devastatingly brilliant Jason Isbell, as per the rockier ‘Sit Down‘ (no, not the James song), which is similar to the more uptempo numbers the former Drive-By Truckers man performs with The 400 Unit, or if they interpret them in a more AOR way, which veers close to Bryan Adams territory every now and again, particularly on ‘I Don’t Wanna Be There’. Not that this is a criticism in any way – I don’t mind a bit of Bryan, and the songs that emulate him in certain ways would have undoubtedly been smash hits if they’d been released as singles in the 1990s.

Arguably the most commercial tune on Obsolete Path is the jangly pop song ‘She Looks Good In Black‘, which reminds me a little of Counting Crows circa August And Everything After, though more ‘poppy’ than that. It’s a tiny bit Tom Petty in a way, too, though I’m at a loss to explain why I think that.

‘The Great Divide‘ is another standout, its expansive, searing guitars lifting it to another level, although this one is a track that definitely brings to mind a certain Canadian singer who I mentioned not very long ago. The guitar playing on ‘I’m A Machine‘, on the other hand, unexpectedly and rather pleasingly, evokes memories of Johnny Marr backing Kirsty MacColl on her 1983 hit version of Billy Bragg‘s ‘A New England‘.

All in all, Obsolete Path is an enjoyable listen and a worthy addition to Chris Church’s not inconsiderable discography. Is it the best album of his career? Not for me, no. But what I will say is that it does contain at least three of the greatest songs he’s written, and none of the others on here are less than ‘quite good’, which is more of a compliment than it sounds. In all honesty, Chris Church really ought to be a household name by now, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be.