Anchor & Braille

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.