My three favourite bands are
Mae,
Copeland, and
Anberlin. So when Stephen Christian of
Anberlin and Aaron Marsh of
Copeland got together to form a side project, it should come as no surprise that I would love their music. In fact it's quite possible that the music of
Anchor & Braille could move to #1 on my list of favourites. It should be noted that Aaron Marsh is no longer a member of
Anchor & Braille although he is listed as Christian's producer.
Unfortunately
Anchor & Braille hasn't released a full album yet. They released a
7" vinal with two songs and recorded a song for the compilation album
Punk the Clock. That song is available for download on iTunes. At one point they were going to release a full album in September of 2008, but that never happened. Here's hoping that there is still a full album to come at some point in the not to distant future. Be sure to check out their
MySpace and
Purevolume.
One of the lyrics to the song "Still Sleeping" goes like this:
You've got more damned sinners than saints as friends The use of questionable language in music by artists who are Christians is always frustrating. Jon Foreman said "h*ll" on his recent
Winter EP and
Anberlin did the same when they covered
Radiohead's song
Creep. In the case of still sleeping I wonder if what C.S. Lewis said applies?
One listener complained of the word “damned” as frivolous swearing. But I mean exactly what I say-nonsense that is damned is under God’s curse, and will (apart from God’s grace) lead those who believe it to eternal death.
As with the word "hell" which can certainly be used in certain situations without being considered a swear word, Lewis argues that there is a correct use for the word "damned." In the case of the above examples, the word "hell" is both used in a context that would normally make it a swear. The use of "damned" in "Still Sleeping" is less clear, however, and is probably actually perfectley legitimate.
One last note on swearing. Often people wonder what makes it wrong to say these words. Is it just culture? Are these words inherintly wrong? I wonder if there is a connection between Augustine's definition of sin and the definition of foul language. Essentialy, he defined sin as the twisting of good. All things are created good and are good if we use them for God. If we use them only for ourselves and not for God it becomes sin.
Among the best albums of this year was Anberlin's New Surrender. I'm not going to review it here but feel free to take a look at the links bellow. Right now it is only $3.99 at Amazon.com! You have no reason not to buy it.
My three favourite bands are Mae, Copeland, and Anberlin. So when Stephen Christian of Anberlin and Aaron Marsh of Copeland got together to form a side project, it should come as no surprise that I would love their music. In fact it's quite possible that the music of Anchor & Braille could move to #1 on my list of favourites. It should be noted that Aaron Marsh is no longer a member of Anchor & Braille although he is listed as Christian's producer.
For one month out of every year our music collections seem to magically change. No matter what we listen to normally, we all begin listening to Christmas tunes during December. Of course, there is also diversity among Christmas music. But we seem to be more willing to listen to genres we might not otherwise give a chance. We all have our favourite Christmas songs and albums. Mine is Bryan Duncan's Christmas is Jesus.
As we approach the end of 2008 the time has come to give out my award for album of the year. And the winner is: Copeland - You Are My Sunshine. This was no easy task as three of my other favorite bands, The Classic Crime (The Silver Cord); Anberlin (New Surrender); and Jeremy Camp (Speaking Louder Than Before), also released great new albums.
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