Nearly a half-decade removed from American Idol,
Danny Gokey -- the second runner-up from season eight -- has abandoned the pop mainstream and focuses on Christian music for his sophomore set, 2014's
Hope in Front of Me.
Gokey doesn't devote the entirety of
Hope in Front of Me to inspirational music -- he attempts to cop a bit of
Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" swagger on the ebullient "Better Than Gold," a deliberate evocation of
Off the Wall-era disco that grabs attention because it, along with the Yacht Rocking "Take It to the Limit," sound nothing like the rest of the
Hope -- but the majority of the record is dedicated to messages of love, faith, and hope. Sometimes, he gets a bit mawkish -- "One Life," where accidental deaths are used as an example of living just for today -- and the arrangements could never be mistaken for subtle, as all the vocals on synthesizers are pushed right into the red, egged along by circular arpeggios that never let up. This glassy, immaculate, professional pop suits the CCM MOR mainstream, but
Gokey fairs the best when
Hope in Front of Me steers away from the pack and into a bit of early-'80s disco-kitsch; the touch is lighter, the hooks are sharper, and the feel is bright and open, not clean and claustrophobic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine