Monday, January 4, 2010

A prayer more than a review - Pedro the Lion/David the Digger


So i just bought David Bazan's new record "Curse Your Branches". Incredible stuff. If you've followed him at all throughout his career you'd know his first band, Pedro the Lion, and the massive impact they had on christian music in their unwavering honesty. Something that's so scarce and so precious in a scene that can be dominated by idealism and porcelain fronts -Fragile and beautiful. I remember the first PtL record i bought, the Whole EP. It was the first experience i had with a record that made me feel like i was sitting down and having the most honest conversation of my life with someone. Not be sold anything. Lyrics like: "Rest in me little David and dry all your tears, You can lay down your armor and have no fear. Cause i'm always here when you're tired of running, i'm all the strength that you need." (Lullaby, Whole Ep, '97), or his heartfelt rendition of Be Thou My Vision (The Only Place I Feel Secure, '99). These songs Felt like something new to me.

David went on to form another band later on called The Headphones. One that explored more controversial methods of communication. Tracks like S**t Talker, Gas and matches, and Hot Girls, dug their finger deeper into wounds that the church was trying to cover up in an effort to raise awareness and instead raised hell. Angry undertones caught my attention and eventually i came to believe that some things he said in sarcastic tone, were really being said out loud as he convinced himself of there cynical truth.

So here i'm listening to his new record and admiring the signature honesty that Bazan can pull of in a way that makes you empathize with him. But i'm hearing blatant lyrics like "Did you push us when we fell?" and "In my throat, there swells a darkness. It fills my mouth, and coats my lips... Oh, falling leaves should curse their branches, For not letting them decide where they should fall, And not letting them refuse to fall at all." Or the saddest of all "When Job asked you a question, You responded, 'Who are you to challenge your creator?' Well if that one part is true It makes you sound defensive, like you had not thought it through, like you didn't have an answer, like you bit off more than you could chew"

What happened to a, once so positive, poet? My calvinist friend might tell me he just wasn't one of the "Divine Elect", or he would irresistibly be God's forever. My Armenianist friend might tell me he's just exercising his free will and changing his mind like our Benevolent God gave us the choice to do. Both would argue their point fervently, but both would speak SOLEY from opinion and interpretation. It's been my experience that the one thing no one can legitimately argue is experience.

"God changed my life."

"No He didn't"

It just doesn't work. Only that person can say what they've experienced, and no one else can take that from them. My point being i found something in PtL's music early on that i could identify with. Something that i saw was beautiful. And when a man that celebrate as a poet turned a corner, he didn't take me with him. And neither should any argument that anyone throws at you.

Here's what i'm getting at... experience God for yourself. I have no idea what's going through the mind of David Bazan, nor the heart thereof, and i never will. But i commend him for always digging. Unfortunately he hasn't found what he was looking for.... i know i have. I know i found it in the face of a passionate loving God.

So take what ANYONE says to you with a grain of salt. Test it, and hold on to what is good. Experience God for yourself and make up your own mind. There are so many "movements" nowadays and they're all fighting for your allegiance. But we either swear our allegiance to God, or to nothing at all. Those are our choices. He is everything and everything apart from Him is nothing. I challenge you to experience Him for yourself, dig into him. See what you find.


Interesting links: Then Now

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I've considered David Bazan to be my favorite artist for some time now. I also started listening to PTL back when Whole EP released. I especially loved the way he was able to tell stories about man's depravity while somehow having a way to show a small amount of redemption in the end. At the end of Control (probably my favorite complete album) the last song "Rejoice" ends with "wouldn't it be wonderful if everything were meaningless, but everything is so meaningful, and most everything turns to sh**. Rejoice.

Musically his newest album "Curse Your Branches" may be one of his best yet. I listened to it almost nonstop for the first 2 weeks I had it, and the songs were constantly stuck in my head. Believe it or not, for me that began to be a problem. It was so hard to erase some of the lines from my mind and it almost felt like a poison. I usually have no problem with searching lyrics, but in this instance I did. It just seems like a breakup album... hearing a man that I've admired for a long time break up with God. It may be the saddest album I've ever heard.

I think my favorite line is:
"And why are some hell-bent upon there being an answer/while some are quite content to answer ‘I don’t know’?"
He is hell bent on being able to find the right answers to his questions. I am content to answer I can't know everything, but I have faith that God knows and has the right answers.

David Gregroy said...

absolutely man. I've only had this record for about a week now, but i almost feel like it's upset me enough to change somethings about how i've been living. He does a great job of not drawing a sacred/secular divide, but i'm thinking that on this new record it more like there's nothing sacred.

In the the "then" interview i posted on her he says that "God doesn't need to be stuck up for." This record made me feel otherwise.

And oddly enough i feel like i'm making a big deal of it bc even though i've never met him i feel like it's a close friend who's been blinded, not just some stranger.