Anberlin always opens up their albums with brute force. Their fourth album was no exception. Released in 2009 just after the Bush presidency, Anberlin was always low-key political. I discovered Anberlin while going to Christian school in Western North Carolina. Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist, I felt an extra urge to be branded as an Evangelical. Peer pressure's funny, isn't it. Anberlin was always a step ahead of the Evangelical movement, though. They were an early adopter of the saying "not a Christian band" but a "band with Christians in it." And Christian radio seemed to love it. Stephen also talked about how he didn't believe the Genesis Creation account, and he also spoke out against the Bush administration and the Iraq war. Fast-forward to 2008. I'm in my first year of Seventh-day Adventist college. I preordered this album from the band's merch table at Cornerstone. John McCain was running for president against Barak Obama. There was a conflict in the atmosphere--embrace hope and change while letting values slide or hold fast to the traditions and biblical values. This was the conflict I felt in every single class and with every single interaction. My Seventh-day Adventist college was way more diverse than my homogenous upbringing. Even in this microcosm in Eastern Tennessee, the world picked up more and more nuisance. And of course I was being challenged by the music of Anberlin and Switchfoot and started to listen to more and more secular music like Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. And yet, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head saying that I had to read the Bible in a certain way otherwise it was wrong. I'll leave the story there.
MUSICAL NOTES: This is an excellent album opener. We first hear crunchy guitars. Drums are added on the third bar and then a second guitar and the bass bring the intro to a climax and then adds the vocals. It's one of my go to protest songs whenever I'm angry about something personal or political. I wonder if Anberlin was vocal about the Christian acceptance for the Bush administration, what would they be saying now if they hadn't gone on hiatus in 2014.
WHY I CHOSE THIS SONG: Today Anberlin performed New Surrender for the first time in a livestream. The album received mixed reviews and not exactly loved by the band. Though disjointed, this album is still one of the albums that defined my life. I say that Cities is the finest album the band has ever made, and how can a band follow up their magnum opus? They must do something different. Cities was an album of darkness and gloom with a little hope to shine through. New Surrender was an album of embracing hope with a little bit of darkness keep us fighting for a better future. "The Resistance" reminds me that although America has chosen hope, there are still cages to unlock. There's still darkness to fight. Let's form the resistance.
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood. YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON . Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
On April 8th, people from around the world crowded the path of a rare total solar eclipse that spanned from central Mexico to Newfoundland. The celestial event lasted at most 4 minutes and 28 seconds. In the eclipse's direct path, businesses charged excessive rates for tourists to stay, dine, and enjoy themselves before and after the short main event. Many recall the 2017 total eclipse when then-President Trump looked directly at the sun without protective glasses, leaving experts aghast. As the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses were less than seven years apart, why the hype and international travel? While the two solar eclipses happened only seven years apart, the last total eclipse before 2017 in the contiguous fifty states was on March 7, 1970, and the next total solar eclipse after 2024 is not until 2044, but only be visible in the north-midwestern states around sunset. I SEE THE NIGHT SLIPPING OVER. The cosmic phenomenon of the sun being blocked by the sun’s light being block
Capitalizing on the pop-punk sound of the time Tooth & Nail signed Search the City , and they released their first album A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It in 2008. The band played at Tooth & Nail Day at Cornerstone that year and produced several radio singles from the radio-friendly album. Tongue-in-cheek lyrics in songs like " Son of a Gun " and " Ambulance Chaser " lyrically could connect this Detroit-based band with the likes of a clean-lyriced Blink-182 , Angels or Airwaves , or Relient K . Five years after Fire , the band reformed with a new drummer, bassist, and vocalist, 21-year-old Travis Bobier , who was much younger than the other band members. The 2012 album Flight was very similar to Fire, with Bobier's vocal performance on the album of high-register, energetic emo sound like original singer Josh Frost . YOU HAVE A PLACE TO CALL YOUR OWN THAT NO ONE CAN EVERY TAKE FROM YOU. The opening track of Flight , " My Secrets Have Secr
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