“Rewind” by Pillar, Friday, November 3, 2023
Pillar’s third studio record, Where Do We Go From Here?, was the band’s stylistic departure from rap-rock. The Oklahoma-based Christian Rock band had begun to breakthrough with their 2002 sophomore record Fireproof, even repacking the album for the general rock market. Pillar worked with producer Travis Wyrick on all of their albums until 2009’s Confessions, and together the band and the producer whose credits include Disciple, Spoken, 10 Years, and P.O.D. crafted an undeniable Pillar sound. The differences between Pillar’s 2002 and 2004 records are mostly the difference in Rob Beckley’s lead vocal styles. On Where Do We Go From Here? Beckley exchanges bro-rap for melodic singing and a few well-placed screams—most notably on the lead single, “Bring Me Down.”
IT SEEMS JUST LIKE YESTERDAY. Abandoning the kitschy genre of rap-rock proved a success for Pillar. But it wasn’t just the change in vocal stylings on Pillar’s third album Where Do We Go From Here? that served as an improvement. As an album, Fireproof musically fell flat a few places, which was even part of the reason for re-recording and repackaging the album. However, on Where Do We Go From Here? the guitar tones are much tighter. Producer Travis Wyrick gives the guitars much more space, giving the album a mysterious, almost Twister soundtrack feeling. Where Do We Go From Here? lyrically diverts from Fireproof, trading explicit Christian references for vaguer metaphors. Fireproof feels preachy when Beckley rants about being “one nation under God” and how “In God We Trust” is written on our money in the song “Indivisible.” Instead, we get the band’s hit “Frontline,” a song about spiritual warfare. Both of those songs, however, could work in tandem to promote a Christian youth group zeitgeist of Christian nationalism indoctrination.
I’D TAKE BACK THE LIES. A common trope on Christian hard rock albums is the reflective ballad. On Where Do We Go From Here? track four “Simply” begins to take the album’s momentum down a notch with a slow verse that builds into a power chorus. The following track, “Rewind,” fits the Christian radio ballad format. Lyrically, both tracks expose the weak and sometimes clunky lyrical composition of the album. “Rewind” fits into the category of Christian songs that Good Christian Fun’s hosts Kevin T. Porter and Caroline Ely classify as “I’m a piece of shit.” I think of Where Do We Go From Here? solidly as a summer album, but today is a summery fall day. The song is nostalgic for a time when you get caught up thinking about the bad things that you said and did. There’s a ton of Christian songs like this. We’re supposed to think about how our sins have hurt Jesus as we sit in our rooms. For 3 minutes and 43 seconds, I’m transported back to my teenage anxieties, overthinking about how my actions hurt other people. I don’t think it’s healthy, but at least the guitar was pretty.
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