West coast CCM outfit Press Play’s high-energy debut dutifully evokes lead vocalist/songwriter David Hanley’s vision for a hip, technologically advanced, 21st century ministry. The band’s huge, multimedia stage show was born in 2001 in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles at the Angelus Temple’s Dream Center, an inner city house of worship that serves as a spiritual rehabilitation center for everyone from gang members and drug addicts to unwed mothers, former convicts, and AIDS patients. The aptly titled Life Is Beautiful is chock-full of the kind of slick, urban, teen, synth pop that would sound great through the “line-array speakers, 52-foot panoramic screen, LED stage panels” and massive sound system that the band cites as its divine delivery system. Think Up with People for the X-box generation. – James Christopher Monger
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