Distorted Reality – Dream the new beginning.

Hi, there are couple of things I wanted to write about before getting onto something more serious in another post.

The first is that I’m going to see the last ever (unless unforeseeable circumstances come into play) Delirious? gig tonight at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Delirious? are a band I’ve loved since about 1996 and they’ve played a massive part in the shaping of my personality and faith. I have a tonne of respect for them as individuals and for their integrity as a group of men. I can’t say I know them properly as individuals, but the music they have made and the attitudes they’ve shown have really inspired me and a good few thousand others, so I’m really thankful.

So today represents a sort of ‘end of era’ type of moment. I think it’s going to get emotional in a ‘large crowd singing along and knowing all the words’ way and, as is usual with a Delirious? gig, I’m expecting to meet with the tangible presence of God.

So a great night then, all in all!

The other thing I wanted to mention was that I’ve started reviewing for a website called Louder Than The Music. It’s a site that deals with the music emanating from Christian sections of culture and I think the site itself is really informative and, although it is an idea that has a long way to grow, it appears to me that it is fairly stacked with information about the current scene. Anyway, I like it and am currently reviewing a couple more albums.

The reviewing thing has set me thinking a bit because so many lyrics from a ‘Christian viewpoint’ appear to me to be pretty clichéd. There often seems to be a load more imagination in the lyrics of the music from the wider culture. I’ve been wondering why that is.

At the same time, I’ve been listening to Stockholm Syndrome, an album by Derek Webb, a guy who is a Christian and usually produces fairly confrontational lyrics in a sort of folk-rock genre. Syndrome is far more electronic and is a pretty enjoyable listen, partly because the lyrics are focused on the nonsense that is often spoken loudly by Christians, such as attitudes to sexuality and gay people in particular. Weirdly, one of the tracks (probably the best and most important track on the album) was removed by his record label because he says ’shit’! Thankfully, this track is still downloadable.

So why are lyrics from Christians so often cliché-ridden and boring compared to the rest of the world? I got to thinking that being a Christian is like living in a house and,when we produce art, it’s like looking out of one of the windows and musing upon it. Well it seems that Christians have been looking out of one, small window together for several years and we’ve all been writing about that view, which is beautiful, but tiny and doesn’t tell the viewer about the rest of the 360° view that we’re allowed to appreciate. Neither does it allow for the fresh air and glorious atmosphere that we might experience by stepping outside every now and then.

Maybe we could pop down to the shops for some sugary treats.

Or spend a while in the countryside and splash in the mud.

All the while, still be living in that same house.

I’m thankful that Delirious? have seemed to kick start the artistic process for Christians who choose to look out of windows. New ’sounds and rhythms’ and new lyrical adventures have arrived on the back of Delirious?’s hard work. Now I’m thankful that something new could happen in this new era.

I really hope that Derek Webb is a glimpse of what might be to come.