Mixtapemotions

  • “Oasis” by EXO, Friday, December 31, 2021

    An album set in a fictional universe, the EXO-planet boys came back with their fifth studio album in 2018, Don’t Mess Up My Tempo.  The 2018 was the Korean/Chinese boy band’s most successful record in the United States, reaching number 23 on Billboard’s Hot 200 album sales chart. Closing the album is the R&B track “Oasis.” The music was composed by a young American-Lebanese songwriter named Andrew Bazzi, or just Bazzi. The groove of the 808 bass loops, staccato instruments, and the EXO boys’ smooth vocals make “Oasis” an infectious track.


    I’M ON THE ROAD.  The young songwriter Bazzi has written for Nelly, Camila Cabello, and Lil’ Wayne. So far, his biggest hit, 2017’s “Mine” became famous as a SnapChat filter. Before this hit, though, he promoted his music through Vine. Besides “Oasis,” Bazzi wrote “Oh La La La,” which also appears on Don’t Mess Up My Tempo as well as a track on the band’s previous album. He also contributed writing to EXO’s label-mates, NCT Dream. “Oasis” imagines the group on a road through a desert in search for some relief. EXO has a variety of sound, and I have to say, not all of them are for me. But what I found is that when EXO is less dancy and more slow-RnB-leaning, I tend to like those songs. Their album 2015 second LP, Exodus was, according to my musical tastes, EXO at their best, a calculated record hiding a few dance tracks around a mostly soulful RnB record. The band has released excellent singles since that record, whether dance tracks, slow R&B ballads, or genre-bending tracks, like “Lightsaber.” But I’d argue that “Oasis” is the best EXO track in terms of mood and vocals. The members of EXO contribute their own unique vocals to each line. What stuck out to me was D.O.‘s English lyrics on the second bridge. The first bridge is sung by Baek Hyun and Chen, who has a more sweet, not-quite timid timbre in his voice. The second bridge, though, Chen sings “조금 더 멀리” or “just a little bit further” and D.O. contributes his English lyrics “Running, I’m running, chasing the sun.” That is one of the sexiest voices I’ve heard in music–the vocal cords rubbing in such a calculated way. In other EXO songs, D.O. embellishes the track with a scruffier voice, but on “Oasis,” he makes the track at just the right time.

    I’M ON THE ROAD.  It’s been a year, and I’ve enjoyed writing about music every day. There were a few days when I didn’t want to. Other days, it’s all I wanted to do. I’m going to continue this project tomorrow in 2022, but I’m going to change the rules a bit. I’m going to keep a “Song a Day” format, but I’m going to experiment with web design, theme, kinds of content I include in the daily posts, extra playlists to fit special occasions that fit into the “Song a Day” format, and if I get that all figured out, I’ll promote my work on social media. Expect some reposts or semi-reposts, as a new year allows me to listen again to the music that mattered to me this year and for years before I wrote about music. I have many hopes for my blog. I hope that I can promote artists who need a few Spotify pushes, like Ian Mahan, Dabin, and Cyn. I hope that I can get deeper into discographies of artists I discovered this year like MUNA, Kacey Musgraves, Bastille, NEEDTOBREATHE, and others. I hope that next year is a great year in listening to music, and I hope that I can figure out who to write about that music in an interesting way, whether my readers care for the song or not. Happy New Year!
     

  • "Here It Goes" by Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, December 30, 2021

    Entertainment Weekly called Jimmy Eat World‘s seventh album, Chase This Light, “Extroverted guitar pop.” Recently on an episode of Slate‘s Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy told a compelling story tracing the evolution of punk to emo to its eventual influence on pop and hip hop. Between Green Day making an album about crap and My Chemical Romance sending out invitations to the black parade (and long before Machine Gun Kelly sold tickets to his downfall) came a pop one-hit wonder who from Mesa, Arizona, who is often cited early in a list of influences for pop punk, punk, emo and screamo bands. But Alternative Rock radio listeners knew that Jimmy Eat World was no one hit wonder.

    DON’T ACCEPT CRITIQUE OR CREDIT. When we think of emo, we picture neo-gothic-looking kids dressed in skinny jeans and over the-the-top haircuts. The Wikipedia image to the left best sums up the stereotype. Molanphy points out that a phenomenon that I remember quite well, everyone associated with the emo scene, denounced it. Emo was used as a derogatory term for everything awful about music. And what was emo? My Chemical Romance? Green Day’s American Idiot album? Three Days Grace singing about “Pain without love”?  And if it’s emotional music, isn’t happiness an emotion, too? With all of this hate around scene music, it got very hard to actually voice your opinions in the ’00s about what music you actually liked. Jimmy Eat World proceeded the emo scene, and while they toured with some of the younger emo bands, they are often more close linked to the Power Pop or Pop Punk scene that emerged alongside emo. Their 1999 album Clarity  is viewed as an underrated gem in their scene and the scenes inspired by the band. So many Tooth & Nail bands cite Jimmy as an influence, that a case could be made that band alone influenced half of Christian Rock in the the ’00s. Stephen Christian of Anberlin has said on several occasions that hearing Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkin’s praise for their single “Impossible” was a career high.

    IT’S JUST MY PARTY NOW. Sometimes you just need a win, and that’s what today’s song is all about. This album was the last big Jimmy Eat World record, if I recall correctly. I heard the single “Big Casino” on Alternative radio, but after that I just saw online that Jimmy Eat World released new music. Chase This Light is a catchy, poppy record filled with the sweetness that Jimmy Eat World is known for. The power pop band has a diverse, upbeat array of songs, starting with the first track and biggest single from Chase This Light, “Big Casino.” Along the way, listeners experience familiar pop-punk material before the album’s emotional closer, “Dizzy.” Track 8, “Here It Goes,” feels very poppy. The song uses gang vocals, handclapping, stomps, and some other production not typically heard on a Jimmy Eat World tune. Listening to his song today feels like a shifting of gears. This year has had its ups and many downs. I wrote for 364 days trying to recover from 2020, a year that was the hardest in my professional life and scariest in terms of realizing that stability is an illusion. This year was better, but professional conflicts soured the latter quarter of the year. We are two days away from 2022, and I’m not going to declare it to be my year, or anything foolish like that. Instead, I want to set my mind up to being ready to receive new opportunities in the new year, should they present themselves. Today’s song tells us to stay true to ourselves and “don’t receive critique or credit.”




     

  • "Heaven" by Troye Sivan ft. Betty Who, Wednesday, December 29, 2021

    On December 4, 2015, Troye Sivan released his wildly successful first LP, Blue Neighbourhood.  Building a large Internet fanbase, Blue Neighbourhood peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The standard edition of Blue Neighbourhood 
    contained 3 of the 10 songs from the previously released Wild EP. The LP, though, gave Sivan his first US Top 40 single, “Youth.” Four of the ten songs on Blue were singles, starting with “Wild,” a remix of which was rereleased with guest vocals by Alessia Cara as Sivan’s fourth single from the album, which was a major hit in South Korea.     
    TRUTH RUNS WILD. The final single, “Heaven,” was released on October 17, 2016. The Jack Antonoff-produced single features a second verse from fellow Australian pop star, Betty Who. After Sivan came out in a YouTube video in August of 2013, he became an LGBTQ+ icon, as he processed his sexuality in the lyrics of his music. Part of the promotion for Blue Neighborhoods was a trilogy of videos imagining the themes of two young gay lovers as they deal with the social and relational implications of their love. For the album’s final single, though, Sivan digs into his religious background. Raised Orthodox Jewish, Sivan had an early crisis of faith when he thought he might be gay. He revealed to We the Unicorns that he began to ask “really, really terrifying questions. Am I ever going to find someone? Am I ever going to be able to have a family? If there is a God, does that God hate? If there is a heaven, am I ever going to make it to heaven?” Taking these thoughts into the studio with co-writers Antonoff, Alex Hope, and Clair Boucher, Sivan comes to a conclusion: “If I’m losing a piece of me/ Maybe I don’t want heaven.” 
    WITHOUT LOSING A PIECE OF ME. The lyrics of “Heaven” deal with a personal crisis, but the video shows historic pride marches and video footage of LGBTQ+ Rights activist, Harvey Milk. The queer-themed music video was meant to be released on January 20, 2016, the day that Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, but the video was released on the 19th because of fans’ responses to the video’s teaser. When I first heard “Heaven” back in 2015, my Adventist-raised brain was triggered. In many Protestant denominations, there’s this delicate dance between grace and works. Adventists preached against more permissive denominations that didn’t take the rules from the Old Testament seriously. In order to become an Adventist, it meant giving up a list of things the world thinks is normal: 1) unclean meats 2) jewelry 3) smoking 4) alcohol 5) working on Saturdays, and that was just the beginning. I remember manipulative sermons that analyzed why ______ was sinful, and if you loved _____ more than God, you’d be sure to be left out of heaven. Adventists claimed to be more biblical than other Christians, and that grace leads to a reformed life. Of course, ask any denomination, they would draw a line on something. And all denominations  that I knew of when I was growing up,  the very basic thing was, don’t be gay. Sivan’s response that if he has to change, he doesn’t want heaven. To an Adventist, this could be just as much for someone who doesn’t want to give up bacon as someone who is gay. They would say it’s all sin and a war with the flesh. Growing up in that religion it made perfect sense, until I realized I couldn’t not be gay.

  • "Beth/Rest" by Bon Iver, Tuesday, December 28, 2021

    Following up their critically acclaimed breakthrough record, For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver recorded their sophomore eponymous album in a converted veterinarian clinic in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. While the band’s first album earned two points higher of a score on Meta Critic (88%) than the self-titled record’s 86%, the self-titled record won the 2012 Grammy for Best Alternative Album. The self-titled record was named by both Paste and Pitchfork as the album of the year for 2011. The heavily-filtered vocals of Justin Vernon’s baritone-to-falsetto range along with the variety of heavily-produced instrumentals make this album both pleasant to listen to and helped to redefine what the genre of Alternative actually meant.


    AND THE RAIN LET IN. Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon majored in Religious Studies and minored in Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before becoming the indie rock god to college kids coming of age with Bon Iver’s esoteric lyrics and easy-listening ballads, though Bon Iver’s third album 22, A Million ventures away from the easy listening factor into a fully avant-garde experience. Earlier this month, we heard Bon Iver crooning on Taylor Swift‘s “exile,” and we discussed the origin of the name Bon Iver, and how Vernon and Bon Iver sometimes are synonymously used when being featured on a track. The band’s sophomore album begins with the track “Perth,” which Vernon wrote in 2008 when he was thinking about the death of his friend, actor Heath Ledger. The actor was born in Perth, Australia, and played roles on Australian television and film before coming to the United States. Vernon associated “Perth” with the word birth. The album’s closer “Beth/Rest” is associated with death.

    SAID YOUR LOVE IS KNOWN, I’M STANDING UP ON IT.  Many Bon Iver fans hate “Beth/Rest.” Vernon, however, constantly defends his choice to include ’80s-styled soft rock ballad at the end of his second work. The lyrics of the song are confusing, falling into a small percentage of songs that make my playlist that 1) I have to look up words and 2) I don’t know immediately what the song is about on a surface level just by reading the lyrics. Fun fact: a soffit is the part of a roof that overhangs the wall. The lyrics are seemingly random leading up to an “axiom.” Similarly, the music video is bizarre. It made me think about if Superman’s Kryptonian parents were giant chickens traveling to earth. The beginning of the video made me think about Christmas and the end made me think about Ebola or some infectious disease. The feeling of the song seems to be more important than the lyrics, and maybe this is the point of Bon Iver. While Vernon could have used much smaller words or mixed the lyrics where they were a more prominent feature of the song, instead listeners are left with muddled lyrics with a few moments of lucidity, words that stand out and seem to be important to the song. But the rest of the time, we’re in a bit of a musical hallucination. Maybe that’s also the point. Near death, life starts making less and less sense. And if I’m completely off, I’ll just sign off by saying, “Let’s have a good end of the year, and Bon Iver–enjoy your winter!”

  • “Music Box” by Ian Mahan, Monday, December 27, 2021

    Ian Mahan grew up in Illinois taking piano lessons and taekwondo. Of the two, he preferred taekwondo, practicing to become a Junior Olympian and a regional champion. However, at the age of 16, Mahan injured his knee, and his doctor told him he had “degenerative arthritis.” In his latter years of high school, Ian turned to music and writing songs. Learning guitar at the age of 18 helped the singer discover “his true instrumental passion,” according to his Spotify biography. The singer moved to Colorado where he plays music in the local scene.

    YOU HATE WHEN I WRITE LOVE SONGS.     Mahan played in several bands in college. According to an interview with Voyage Denver, in high school the singer was dating an athlete who didn’t believe in his music career. In college, the singer says that girlfriend “shattered his heart into a million pieces.” In 2008, Mahan recorded his first solo work, though it is not available on streaming services. Today’s song comes from the singer’s sophomore EP, Tiger Lily. Mahan is still an up-in-coming artist. He’s shared the stage with several famous acts, such as Lisa Loeb, Christina Perri, The Rocket Summer, and Vanessa Carlton; he has a song that featured Aaron Marsh of Copeland; and he contributed a song called “Forever in Your Heart” to a Hallmark movie, which is his most streamed song on Spotify.  He released several singles this year, an EP titled Some Sad Songs and a remix EP of some of his older songs.  Since I wrote about him in June, his monthly listeners on Spotify have increased from 45 to 131. I hope that as I develop my blog, my eventual readers will follow great obscure artists. 

    TURN AND TWIRL LIKE A MUSIC BOX. While Tiger Lily  was released in April of 2017, there’s something about today’s simple acoustic ballad that makes me think about Christmas. The delicate notes of this song mimic the notes played after winding up a music box. I think about the music box that we unpacked with the Christmas decorations. The same model is pictured to the left. The cute mice ice skated to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a song that almost made my song of the day as I listened to Emery‘s version, but then I remembered the Paper Route song “City Trucks” that says, “By the 27th day, I’ll have put the tree away.” And honestly, I’m kind of over Christmas this year and dwelling on it makes me feel depressed. Still, I couldn’t help but be taken by the imagery of a ballet dancer, dancing in the lights, dancing forever until she is old and grey. And I thought about the mice lovers, skating on the ice, fast at first and then slowing down with the music until I wound it up again, repeating that process until the Christmas decorations were packed up and repeating again the next year. I wonder if we still have the music box. I wonder if Kimberly from the song is still dancing? I hope that Ian Mahan keeps making awesome music.

     





  • “Have I Always Loved You?” by Copeland, Sunday, December 26, 2021

    In an interview with New Noise, Copeland‘s guitarist Bryan Laurenson talks about the circumstances why the band broke up in 2010. The band feared the fanbase was drying up. They were sick of touring, but after some time away, working with other projects, Copeland came back together to record 2014’s Ixora. The four years away gave Copeland fans one of the best records the band has released. Building on the layered, compositional ballads from You Are My Sunshine, Copeland masterfully combines lush arrangements of guitars, pianos, odd drum beats, synths, strings, and horns with some of the most concrete love songs the band has ever released.
     

    THE WHITEST DRESS I KNOW. Named after a subtropical flowering plant common in the band’s home state of Florida (pictured to the left), Ixora opens calmly with the cold track “Have I Always Loved You,” and the band builds a momentum that easily draws listeners along until the album’s early emotional climax, “Erase,” which for me, is where a casual listen of Ixora ends. The rest of the album is good, too, but not overly catchy as are the first four tracks. After “Erase,” “Ordinary” slows the pace. Tracks like “Lavender” and “Like a Lie” pick it back up and are thought-provoking. The album’s closing tracks feature beautiful instrumentation. But after “Erase,” I’m usually emotionally spent. The first three songs on the record are love songs. I’ve talked about why love songs are so difficult to get right when I was talking about the sort of bland Nick Jonas album opener for Spaceman, “Don’t Give Up on Us.” My argument about what makes a love song good is conflict, and a lack of conflict makes a song bland. Specific conflict is better. In “Have I Always Loved You,” we have a storm outside and a feeling of safety with a loved one. In “Disjointed” we have a misunderstanding that a couple is working through that is compared to the waves pulling the two under, which is actually a positive metaphor for being submerged in another person. In “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” we have a beautiful song that Marsh says (and the music video depicts) is about a mermaid tempting and dragging a man to sea. 

    OUR CASTLE WILL BE HIGH ABOVE THEIR ARROWS.  On an end-of-the-year vacation to Busan to get away from the stress of teaching and being in ministry, I retreated into this album. I was with my best friend, but I was processing information that I couldn’t share with him. When I listened to Copeland’s Ixora, I was myself, but when I was spending time with anyone else, I had to put on a façade. I had recently started dating men, but I was trying to keep it hidden from everyone I knew, especially my friends. While I worried about the implications of being found out as an exploited “missionary teacher” in Korea, my biggest fear was that my friends, particularly my best friend, would say something spiritually profound that would cast me out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. So I kept everything to myself. On top of that feeling, the day before this trip had started, I had suffered a devastating revelation which ended  with a profound feeling of loneliness. I turned to an archaic non-GPS-based dating website. I was in a desperate state, feeling that I was going to be forever alone. And in the middle of this sickness, I started started two conversations.


    Original version:


    Ixora Twin version:


    Original/Twin version combined:

     

  • "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by The Eagle and Child, Saturday, December 25, 2021

    No, that riff is not “Don’t You” (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds in some alternate, extended drumming version. Today, we’re listening to a San Diego-based Worship band’s rendition of the classic Christmas hymn, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Formed with former members of indie/Christian Rock bands Reeve Oliver, Something Like Silas, and Future of Forestry and named after a pub near Oxford University where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met to discuss their writing and their ideas, The Eagle and Child have released several albums and EPs on Tooth & Nail’s worship music imprint, Gospel Songs. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” comes from their first Christmas EP, O Christmas.

    BORN TO GIVE THEM SECOND BIRTH. Christmas covers have to be excellent in order to take my attention from a traditional arrangement. While I listened to several Christmas songs today, the moody saxophone and the drums on this version stuck out, even after listening to the beautiful 2021 recording of Kings College Choir’s version, promoted in the podcast Hark! The Stories Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carols. The episode about “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” gives a fascinating history of this hymn. But if you want the cliff notes of the 39-minute episode: the melody originates from a secular Felix Mendelssohn cantata, written to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. While Mendelssohn was a deeply religious Lutheran after his family converted from Judaism, Mendelssohn felt that the tune we now sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was too secular to be adapted to a religious context. Furthermore, the tune was intended to be sung by a choir, not a congregation. The notes reach beyond an octave, whereas communal worship tunes are often written for a more limited range. Meanwhile, Charles Wesley, the brother of the founder of Methodism, wrote a poem, which was revised by Charles Whitefield, making it less theologically esoteric. Other writers changed the lyrics here and there and finally, English musician William H. Cummings combined Mendelssohn’s cantata with Wesley’s poem. Originally, the song was sung to other tunes including a hymn tune from Handel’s Judas Maccabees  or Wesley’s own melody “Christ the Lord Has Risen Today.”

    JESUS, OUR EMMANUEL. Christmas hit me this year as I was walking in the cold listening to a podcast about a story that has been reinterpreted for generations. The lyrics are based on Luke 2:14, a story passed down for nearly 2,000 years. It was sung in Methodist circles from the early 1700s and became a standard in many faith traditions including the Anglican, Catholic, and most Protestant denominations. It was the Adventist Hymnal and sung frequently around Christmas time. In the 20th century, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” remained a standard tune, being recorded in sacred and secular records from Sinatra to Mariah Carey. It appears in films and Christmas specials. Sometimes, it can be a filler track in the middle of a more dynamic Christmas album. But the old, dusty text always speaks to me. It makes me mediate on the nativity, despite the complications of my 21st century faith. It reminds me about the good news of God becoming flesh to deal with the hard times in our lives, so that he can empathize with us. It makes me think that someone out there cares for me, even if I were to somehow alienate all my human friends, and that someone is watching out for me despite how I fuck up my life. And somehow, when I hear this Christmas song, all judgment that has pushed me out of organized religion is gone, and I’m left with that just a sense of warmth in the cold, a voice I can hardly hear, a flickering candle just barely noticeable in the distance. The old, sacred words “God and sinners reconciled” guide me home. 

     The Eagle and Child version:

    King’s College Choir, 2021:

    Mendelssohn’s “Vaterland, in deinen Gauen” from Festgesang zum Gutenbergfest, Wo0 9: II:

    Handel Melody:

    Frank Sinatra version:

    Mariah Carrey version:

  • “Wonderful Christmastime” by The Shins, Friday, December 24, 2021

    “Wonderful Christmastime” was rated as the worst Christmas song by Ultimate Classic Rock. Recorded when 37-year-old rock legend Paul McCartney was recording his polarizing second solo record, just before the disbanding of his second band, Wings, McCartney II was a synth-pop, new wave record in a time when former Beatles fans were yelling, “stick to the classics.” Recently, critics have come to understand and even praise McCartney II for its pioneering in electronic music. The intentionally simple lyrics help to draw attention to the synths and the overall Christmasy atmosphere of the song.


    THE CHILDREN’S CHOIR SINGS A SONG. “Wonderful Christmastime” has been covered by many artists, including Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, Hillary Duff, Jump5, Chicago and Dolly Parton, Pentatonix, Family Force 5, Jars of Clay, Eleventyseven, and so many other artists. In 2000, the Christian Rock band Earthsuit recorded the track for Tooth & Nail Record’s holiday collection Happy Christmas, Vol. 3. Composed of members of what would become MuteMath, Earthsuit interpreted McCartney’s synth pop with a faster tempo. Singer Adam LaClave’s vocals grow more radical as the song speeds up. I always thought that Family Force 5’s 2009 Christmas Pageant version of this cover took inspiration from Earthsuit’s version. The version that makes our playlist, though, is by indie rock gods, The Shins. I heard this song this morning listening to “A Very Tooth & Nail Christmas” on Apple Music. Along with their “Summer Vibes” playlist, I was shocked to see so many non-Tooth & Nail (and secular) artists on their playlists, especially when Tooth & Nail put out so many Christmas collections. I wondered what’s the connection between Tooth & Nail and The Shins? 

    WE’RE HERE TONIGHT, AND THAT’S  ENOUGH. Formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the late ’90s, The Shins relocated to Portland, Oregon, became friends with Modest Mouse, and landed on an indie film soundtrack written by Zach Braff and starring Braff and Natalie Portman. The movie, of course, is Garden State. While not every band on the soundtrack became Coldplay (who was also on the soundtrack), The Shins forged a lasting career with albums like Wincing at Midnight and Chutes Too Narrow.  In 2012, the band contributed to a Christmas album, Holidays Rule, which also contained Paul McCartney singing a cover of “The Christmas Song.” The Shins’ show their Beach Boys influence in this cover and don’t play up the synth sound of this song. So, why is it a Tooth & Nail favorite? The Shins were a somewhat local band to the Seattle-based label, and Aaron Sprinkle has stated that he was inspired to create Jonezetta‘s second album, taking influence from Wincing at Midnight. But one extra connection to the scene is the keyboardist/producer of this track, the late Richard Swift. Getting a start as the keyboardist for Starflyer 59, Swift went on to play with the Shins from 2011-2016 and toured with the Black Keys in 2014. Sadly, Swift passed away in 2018 at the age of 41. Whichever version you choose to enjoy this holiday season, focus on the simple message. And while Christmas may not be great this year, the merriness of Christmases past can live on in our minds. And that’s enough.

    Performance on Saturday Night Live:

    Pentatonix:

  • “Under the Mistletoe” by Trey Pearson, Thursday, December 23, 2021

    After releasing his first solo EP, Love Is Love in 2017 Trey Pearson has released several singles, including a song called “Oh, Boy” and a “last minute Christmas song” called “Under the Mistletoe” in 2019. The Christmas song that the former Everyday Sunday singer wrote and recorded celebrates a spirit of liberation that the gay singer-songwriter sang about on his debut EP. The secular, festive synth-pop track explores a side of Christmas that the CCM community shies away from: holiday romance. Even more taboo: LGBTQ+ romance in a post-evangelical context. 

    STAND A LITTLE NEARER / LET’S LET OUR TOES TOUCH. Shortly after coming out, many media outlets picked up Pearson’s story, including The View. In his June 2016 interview, Pearson stated that he was ‘not dating” but rather “taking at least year to get to know myself as a gay person. . . before I start getting to know who someone else is.” Since then, Pearson has talked to a number of progressive Christian platforms, including Queerology and Exvangelical, talking more about his upbringing, beliefs, and life as a Christian gay man. Speaking to Blake Chastain at the Exvangelical podcast in 2018, Pearson talks about how much-unexpected support he received when coming out. He took it as a sign of progress, particularly compared to the backlash when Jennifer Knapp came out in 2010. The singer also traced his friendship with controversial pastor Rob Bell to how Pearson could start reading the Bible through a different but critical lens, a lens that would eventually lead to the singer accepting his sexuality. But with the full support of his ex-wife and support from allies both vocal and silent, Pearson began his journey which was reflected in his songs.

    BOY, ANYTHING GOES.  Trey Pearson was trying to do the right thing according to the values he was taught in the church he grew up in. The singer talks about his struggles with same-sex attraction before meeting his wife. He explains to Chastain, “I thought, if I’m faithful to God if I do the right thing by being straight and not being gay if I put my faith in that and get married hopefully, prayerfully, fingers-crossed it will all just magically work.” This didn’t work out, and eventually, Pearson’s wife asked him if he was gay.  Today’s song is Pearson looking at his life without the brokenness. It asks the question, “What if in the spirit of the holiday, we’re just allowed to be ourselves?”  In many circles, showing heterosexual affection is expected, not just accepted, especially around the holiday season. It’s the times that you go home and parents ask, “Why haven’t you met someone yet?” Heterosexual couples, meanwhile, can flaunt their relationships. Home from college and taking the new girlfriend to church. Of course, they’re sleeping together, but they’ll be married soon enough and that will be forgotten. What if this holiday season I come home with someone unexpected? What would you say if anything? And what about PDA? Should I worry about your discomfort? Should I worry about my safety, both physical and social? Some questions to think about as Omicron has canceled Christmas.

  • “Going, Going, Gone!” by Shapes & Colors, Wednesday, December 22, 2021

    Shapes & Colors formed in 2011 after members from a group called Aria Aesthetic combined with the vocalist Travis Bobier from Search the City as well as musicians from other bands. The Troy, Michigan- based group disbanded in 2018 after releasing several singles, three EPs, and an LP, which is not available on streaming services. Following the band’s break up, members of Shapes & Colors went on to form the band CXMPASS, though the group only has one song available, “The Focus,” released in September of last year. Today’s song is the third track on the band’s final, self-titled EP.


    I KNOW I PROMISED YOU THE MOON. In their short discography, cynical listeners could point out how the upbeat throwback to late ’00s emo seems derivative of the band’s influences. Their 2015 EP, produced by Aaron Sprinkle, and their last work, produced by Kenneth Mount and Zach Odom writers for Mayday Parade and All Time Low, may seem like a shadow of the more successful, more popular bands. At their worst, Shapes & Colors songs can feel a bit redundant. But at their best, we hear Travis Bobier’s soaring lead vocals, dashing in and out of the same register as the guitars. There are three songs that Shapes & Colors sound at their best. The first is their 2016 lead single from Love / Sex / War, “Drifting.” The second is the track that comes before “Going, Going, Gone!” “Jackie & Jim,” a song that seems to be grounded in purity culture in its critique of a couple who is “too drunk to love” each other, yet tries to make it work. “Going, Going, Gone!” hits the sweet spot of what Shapes & Colors does best. Lyrics recalling an adolescent relationship that the speaker tried to make work, but it was doomed to fail, as most young relationships are. In the two songs, “Jackie & Jim” and “Going, Going, Gone!” we get a portrait of a stubborn young man. In “Going,” the man is younger, and in “Jim,” he is older. In “Going” youth and hormones are the only thing guiding these mistakes, in “Jim” it’s alcohol and addiction.

    BEFORE DECEMBER TURNED TO JUNE, I SWORE THAT I LOVED YOU. In an interview with Behind the Stage Magazine, the band talks about the first albums they bought and their musical influences. Unsurprisingly, singer Travis Bobier said that his parents bought him *NSYNC’s self-titled album, but said that he bought Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory with his own money. In fact Bobier talks about his pop influences. Besides being a fan of U2, he says that he listened to “a lot of Madonna[,] a lot of Celine Dion, a lot of really great female vocalists and male vocalists for that matter but a lot of 80’s and early 90’s music.” The rest of the band cited punk and classic rock bands–Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Green Day‘s American Idiot, Relient K‘s Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right…But Three Do. Shapes & Color was exactly what I wanted from a punk rock band when I was growing up: hard rock backing delicate, pop vocals. While Shapes & Colors, or Search the City for that matter, may not pull that sound off all the time, the clear mash-up of influences can make their music interesting, much in the way of Falling Up‘s first album or the poppier moments of Anberlin.