Music and Religion
posted February 27, 2008, 3:36 pm | Log In To Post Comments | 
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Tags: mewithoutYou, Catch for Us the Foxes, Seton Hall University, Religion, St. Augustine
I haven't posted here in awhile, don't know why, since I'm very rarely short on things to say. The other day, though, I found something worthwhile writing, and maybe, just maybe, reading about.
I was reading St. Augustine's Confessions--which is dreadfully tedious, so I'm not endorsing it in any way whatsoever--and numerous other religious texts for my Honors' religion class. While reading, a line piqued my attention, "Catch us the foxes in the vineyard," it wrote. Out of familiarity, I was excited; one of my favorite albums by mewithoutYou is entitled Catch for Us the Foxes. I always knew they were a religious band, and was aware that they quoted religious texts often, but this really made me excited: I got to intensely learn about a text that gave me a whole new insight to the band.
I then learned about the dangers within Desire (or eros, in Greek) and found that those ideas were prevalent within the album too. It's amazing to find how little you know about the music you love until you're exposed to other things--until you see what the artist has seen. I think that could be a reason why I'm so damn slow with reviews; it's hard for me to judge an album on the first, second, or even fifth listen. Just like you can't understand a person from a single phone conversation, or a book from a single read, (especially when these things are done haphazardly), I feel I can't fairly judge an album on a single listen. It takes me awhile to get to know the artist, to think what they're thinking while they were producing their album.
But back to my point: it's always great to see things in different lights. Aaron Weiss is an amazing lyricist and vocalist; it's a shame mewithoutYou is so often overlooked. They fall somewhere in between the mainstream and indie worlds, and it seems like neither branch is willing to take them in. So maybe this is my all-out promotion of them, or maybe it was just a waste of all our time.
Comments:
Weakerthans are amazingly literate as well. Check out "The Pamphleteer" for just one example. It is amazing how well read and educated a lot of lyricists are. I guess that's exactly why they are good with words.
Additional Tags: Weakerthans
posted on February 27, 2008, 3:55 pm
I know exactly how you feel. I had a similar experience with Lateralus from Tool. Though I know their plight isn't quite as bad as mewithoutYou (great artists btw), I was doing a bit of research on Jungian Theory (Carl Jung's theory of psychology, more meta-physical ideas than actual psychological fact) and within those texts I found out the meaning behind the song "Forty Six and Two" (from Aenima). After that I started researching all that I could about their songs. Lateralus was the one that I researched the furthest. I found out that there is (supposedly) another order for the tracks that gives it an entirely new meaning and the new order relates to the Fibonacci sequence, which was interesting to read because I had already picked up on the sequence being used in the album's title-track a while before.
Anyways, it's always nice to be able to read up on your favorite artists. Cursive is another good one if you haven't already looked into their music. I'm not sure if you are into The Mars Volta or Brand New but they are also great for that sort of thing.
Edit: Nine Inch Nails is also great to research, but Reznor has gotten a bit more obvious with his newer albums (With Teeth and on). The old stuff is definitely research worthy though.
Additional Tags: Tool, The Mars Volta, Brand New, Cursive
posted on February 27, 2008, 3:47 pm
