I have heard bits and pieces of this record before but never sat down and listened to it all the way through. This is my "live-blog" reaction to listening through it in one sitting and posting my real time reflections. You can get this record here for only $5 for a limited time.
Dry Bones - Great nylon guitar intro. You really get the sense that this song is going to explode. This dude can sing. Great raspy but smooth voice (get it?). Very nice. The harmonic choices are very interesting. Way too cool for Christian radio. It would scare the soccer moms. Drum sounds are big and juicy. Daddy like. Wow, this song just exploded all over itself. I love it. I like this drummer. Now we are rocking. I love the theme of Jesus making all things new. Big big guitars. This song is a huge anthem of rock. I love the dynamics. Very small and stripped down all the way to huge and anthemic. I can tell I am really going to dig this record. Oh my... Reharmonization on the final chorus. That made my ears perk up. I love it. Whoever this guy has playing on his record, he made the right choices. This drummer is a monster. Everyone knows that the drummer is king in rock music.
Beautiful Things - I have heard this song before. I posted it on this blog as a youtube live performance. This arrangement is different. Man, this dude can sing. Great melodies. I can already tell that this song is going to be another anthem of hugeness. The asymmetrical emphasis of the lyrics on the chorus is really cool. I have heard this song twice now and I can’t get enough of it. Lyrics are so encouraging. God DOES make beautiful things out of the dust. Love the piano breakdown. Girl has a great voice. Here comes the explosion of rock madness again. I can sense it. Boom... there it was. This song is so cool. Wow, it’s not over. Hand clapping. I like that. Very cool rhythm. This dude (is it one main guy who leads the band?) is a freaky musician.
Brighter Day - Sounds like Switchfoot. Did they write this song? AC30s and a cool distorted bass riff (guitar speak). This song is totally a Switchfoot song. Did he cowrite with Jon Forman or something? Great straight ahead rock. Bouncy and hooky melodies. Great bass line on the breakdown. Half-time feel. I love it. Sounds like Dave Matthews now. Musically this is very interesting. Not your usual pop rock band. This dude(s) has some very interesting sensibilities to push the genre. I LOVE that. These first three songs have a lot of hope in the lyrical content. Love the whammy pedal.
Heaven - Funky. Totally different style. Groove funk. I love that too. B3. Strong backbeat. Here comes a new singer. Israel Houghton. Dude can sing. He can sing real high. Wow. Like the gospel choir vibe. This song sounds like a lot like “Let Love Rule” by Lenny Kravitz. Great guitar solo. That is some mean blues, but this guy has had to have studied jazz. Great solo. This groove is seriously deep. Wow. Steady tempo slow down on the end. Very interesting ending. Did not expect that. Cool.
You Have Me - An now we have the banjo. Thank you Sufjan. He had put it in there for all the hipsters. Gives him the street cred with all the dudes who grow beards, can’t tune their guitars, rarely shower, play music that only white people like, has zero groove, take pride in sounding really bad, and wear skinny jeans. :) (Nothing but love, seriously...) Rant over. This song is really stark. Here comes the string quartet. I love the string quartet with the piano. Very nice touch. I still don’t get the banjo thing. No one will playing the banjo in this genre of music in five years. Mark my words. I think this is my least favorite song thus far, but I still like it. Does seem to have quite as much melodic hook at the previous four did. Yes!!! The horns and the glock to take us out at the end. The ultimate hipster ending! :)
Cannot Keep You - Great drums tones with the piano. This whole record has a melancholy vibe to it that I really vibe with. Not sure about the lyrics on this one theologically. I’ll have to think about it. Especially the line about the Bible. You can figure that one out on your own. Strong chorus. Great hook. This song is a nice mid tempo sort of worship song. Another good use of the string quartet. Deep strings. More than a string quartet there. Thick and rich. This guy really understands the power of dynamics and how to use them in music. Very satisfying. Love the minor ending.
The Earth Is Yours - More glock or bells of some sort and very nice rhythmic loop. Nice backbeat feel. I dig this song already. I get the sense that this guy is a bit of a mad scientist but allows himself to stay within boundaries that are palatable for general audience listening. Very cool. This record has such a cool vibe to it. I want to know who the minds are behind this because the tones are rich, deep, and the orchestrations of parts is really well done. Nice harmonic change on the last chord before the second chorus and then a surprising breakdown and then another musical change that I didn’t see coming. Wow. This record is blowing me away. Very very interesting without being shocking. It is the opposite of boring.
Call Me Out - More deep grooves. Nice upright piano sound. Love the groove. No, banjo!! I can’t take it! I am going to have hipster nightmares. Oh well. :) It was only for a little bit there. Another theme of hope in the new creation. I like the emphasis a lot. Another change. There are so many changes in these arrangements that I can’t believe it doesn’t feel schizophrenic but it doesn’t. It feels right and it feels really interesting. Nice angular piano riff with the distorted bass is very nice.
Please Be My Strength - Simple tune on a nylon string guitar. Love the intimate and close sound of the vocal. This guy’s voice is rich. Great worship/prayer song. I bet he wrote this song in about five minutes. That is not a slam. The song is beautiful, but you just get that sense. Some of the best songs are written in about five minutes. Key change. Wow. He has to change it up! But it works. This is one of the most interesting records I have heard in a long time. I’m sure I’ll be coming back to it for years to come. I hope he sells a ton of copies. I’m sure he will.
Higher - Another new guitar tune. Nice worship song. Not my favorite song that I have heard thus far. Simple, but not that catchy. Big vocals. Wow, those were cool. This record has surprises around every corner. This song is pretty but I could do without the hipster banjo again. Banjos in pop rock music just means you are trying too hard to be “cool”. Believe me, it’s not. Ok, I’ll quit raging... This song is good but not quite as memorable as the others. Another unexpected ending. Oh wait, that wasn’t the ending. Like I said, surprises around every corner.
Late Have I Loved You - Beautiful melody and piano part. Love the major 7 tone in the melody. (Music theory dork coming out right there.) I am expecting this song to explode into rock. We’ll see. I think this is the first song in 3/4. This has a romance to it that is very inviting. It didn’t quite explode but was very satisfying.
People of God - More piano and glock. Nice piano parts. Nice groove. Great lyrical call to love. His voice is really good. This dude can sing. This chorus is huge and catchy. This might be a perfect pop rock song. Love the piano breakdown. Can I be in this guy’s band? Holy cow. This song would rock in a live show. That reminds me. I need to see this band live. Bridge. Nice feel. Drummer bringing the thunder again. I want to be in the band!!! What a great anthem for the church. This drummer is laying down some serious fills. I love that song. Probably my second favorite.
We Will Run - Another theme of God making all things new. Girl lead vocal on verse two. She sounds great. I love the drummer on the record so much. Great tones. Props to the mix engineer. Nice to hear the female lead vocal. This song is not moving me quite as much as some of the others. Chorus just doesn’t quite hit me like others. Here comes the big build again. Breakdown to some beautiful string quartet with a ton of reverb. I like it. Huge instrumental to end the song at 9 mins or so. Rock anthem. Wow.
I don’t think I have been this excited about a record since the latest MuteMath record came out. I can’t recommend it enough. Get it here for $5.
8 comments:
Ah, I bought this album the day it was released on iTunes and it has been a favorite ever since. I got to see the band (minus all the strings) last summer (John Mark McMIllan opened) and it was the most magical, beautiful concert I've ever attended. Very simple, but it didn't need much to be simply amazing.
It was fun hearing your observations.
After a couple listens through the album, I've noticed how nicely planned it is thematically.
Dry Bones ->Beautiful Things
Call Me Out ->Please Be My Strength
On top of being full of great tracks, thee album is more than the sum of the tracks.
It's a beautiful album musically. But I can't help but wonder - why is there no gospel in any of these songs? Lots of talk of Jesus, but it's never Jesus as Savior. (And I agree with Zach that his Bible lyric in "Cannot Keep You" is problematic.)
I agree the music is fantastic. Reading through the his blog though I've started to wonder about his theology. He comes across as a universalist based on his recent pilgrimage and his posts about the Rob Bell issue. (Posts like this "It wasn’t a “Christian” retreat. It was a cross religious retreat, so they had statues of Mary in the room next to a Buddha next to a Hindu something or other.") How does one listen to worship music when the leader may be following a different gospel? Just enjoy the music for its own sake? I'm not really sure what the answer is. I'd love it if anyone had some counsel to offer.
I listen to a lot of music that I can appreciate for it's own sake. Mozart was a freak in real life. That doesn't mean I can't thank God for the common grace given to him to write timeless music. I know nothing of the depths of Gungor's theology but I know this record rocks. It wouldn't surprise me if we would disagree about many things theologically but I can't say that for sure from 10 tracks. Blog might be a better indication. I have not read that.
Either way, I LOVE this record.
I understand. I think where I was getting hung up is that I came across it initially as "worship" music. I can appreciate it as an album but not so much as worship. Something I've appreciated about the Sovereign Grace church I've been attending for many years is their focus on worship music being theologically sound; focused on and directed toward God. I listen to plenty of music across the spectrum and I really do like this album but I guess I had trouble with its classification. I don't want to be legalistic (a tendency for me) but I don't want to be led astray either. The times that worry me are those where I completely let my guard down because I think something is safe and only later realize I ended up farther down a path than I should be. I don't know if that makes any sense but I'm probably just rambling now anyway. :) Thanks for your insight.
I love this CD. I first got Michael's solo CD back in 2003, bought Lisa's solo CD a couple years later, and then Gungor's first CD "Ancient Skies". Seriously, this is a band to keep coming back to in the coming years!
I have been enjoying this album since I bought last week. Thank you, Zach, for doing this review.
John Moody asked:
Why is there no gospel in any of these songs? Lots of talk of Jesus, but it's never Jesus as Savior.
I just listened to the first song, Dry Bones, and the chorus boldly proclaims "Jesus, You're the one who saves us; Constantly creates us into something new."
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