by Marc Barnes | Mar 30, 2019 | Music
Most of Harrison Lemke’s songs describe him standing at a window, looking out at crummy weather, until he is quite sure that God loves him. In the Bible, weather signifies God’s presence to his Creation, and for good reason: Wind and rain and snow are obvious...
by Marc Barnes | Nov 26, 2018 | Music
Humans are those kind of animals who are not content to mate, eat, drink, and otherwise whittle away existence by taking care of their natural appetites. When these appetites are filled, other animals fall asleep. Mankind alone gets up to build altars, start wars, and...
by Marc Barnes | Nov 6, 2018 | Music
I wanted to review Typhoon’s new record, Offerings, when it came out last year. I wanted the review to be hip and short. But Offerings predicts the apocalypse. Hip and short reviews of apocalypse-predictions only work if the reviewer is being dismissive — and I...
by Marc Barnes | Dec 8, 2017 | Music
My friends and I came to admire the singer-songwriter Harrison Lemke after a morning listening-party of his album Fertile Crescent Blues. Over a great deal of coffee, we wondered how anyone not employed to write the sing-along section of a Protestant Kidz TV show...
by Marc Barnes | Sep 22, 2017 | Music
ndie rock is waxing theological. Sufjan Stevens opened the door with his crooning tunes sung under the “shadow of the cross.” Mewithoutyou makes the problem of God’s existence the problem of their albums. Now Saintseneca provides a soundtrack for the post-Christian...
by Marc Barnes | Feb 17, 2017 | Music
The idea that our love can be bad makes us uncomfortable. Sure, we’ll enjoy a leering ode to “bad romance” or a woeful “addiction to love,” but these songs aren’t bold confessions of love’s ambiguity — they’re...
