Mixtapemotions

“Light” by NYVES, Monday, April 5, 2021

 

Last month I talked about NYVES, the Ryan Clark/Randy Torres electronic project. Today is the day after Easter and from all of the family Facebook posts about Easter, I feel a nostalgia for the holiday, which is not really celebrated in Korea, at least in the few churches I’ve attended here. Unlike holidays like Christmas and Halloween, none of my Korean students know about it, even though I teach in a Christian school. As for Adventists in America, most celebrate or at least acknowledge Easter, and there is often a special service the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Some Adventists also attend other Christian denominations on Easter Sunday for the special services, but we were always told to beware of the pagan traditions that include all of the fun stuff, like egg hunts and chocolate, although my family and many other Adventist families did celebrate Easter in that way. 

I BELIEVE IN RESURRECTION. Ryan Clark’s music and artwork consistently deals with darkness. Even the most easy listening pop or CCM album cover he creates incorporates some dark elements. I think that what makes his art especially appealing to the youth group. Growing up in a conservative household, darkness was mostly censored. No movies with supernatural elements—no ghosts, witches or imagery that suggested anything dark, unless it pertained to chocolate. Christian art that touched on the dark elements was also suspect. I had to hide so many CDs from my mom when I was growing up. One that I bought at the Family Christian Book Store (that was later removed on request by the band) was Evanescence’s Fallen album. My mom found it, looked at the cover–Amy Lee looking gothic on the cover– opened the lyrics and read the lyrics to the last song aloud “Fallen angels at feet/ Whispered voices in my ear/ Death before my eyes/ Lying next to me, I fear.” She exclaimed that it was “pornographic,” and through the CD in the trash. Unbroken, we were able to rescue it and hid it away in another case. Skillet, P.O.D., and Demon Hunter, just to name a few, also used dark lyricism and imagery. And because of the repression at home and caused many church kids to devour this content.

WHEN THESE SHADOWS THEY CONSUME MY NARROW PATH. In my college creative writing class, we talked about how Christians could write songs using minor chords, but the song should end on a major chord. Life is full of darkness, but ultimately light will prevail, and the Great Controversy will conclude with God as the victor. I’ve been thinking of that cliche since then, and I realize that it’s certainly an excuse for sub-par art. Feeling restricted to a happy ending can lead to a damaging repression of truth. Sometimes life is just shitty. Some days, weeks, months, years can be shitty. This is true for anyone, even people of faith. Furthermore, some stories end tragically, and by all accounts the people who are looking at it from the earthly perspective we’ve only been granted can’t make sense of the tragedy. Ryan Clark and Randy Torres decided to end this project with “Light,” a track that seems to be a conclusion that is jumped to in the context of the album. However, on their follow up EP, they choose not to do that, ending on “Details.”My question is, how can faith be more than a band-aid? Sometimes in the rush to get to resurrection, we miss the details of the Garden of Gethsemane. And this rushing over the complex and nuance in order to “end on a major chord” ignores the church of the hurting. It ignores the uncertainty we feel about our future. It makes religion seem irrelevant to our lives.
https://genius.com/Nyves-light-lyrics