I’m not overly excited about the trend among some Christian musicians to take a successful “secular” band and replicate their sound, injecting “Christian” lyrics. On the other hand, it’s inevitable that influential musicians and bands will have a trickle down effect on up-and-coming artists. Case in point: Earlier this week, Christianity Today featured a piece on the latest Christian wunderkind band, Leeland:
For sure, there are some truly outstanding songs on Leeland's debut, with a sound clearly influenced by the brightest and best of Brit pop/rock. The majestic title track in particular lives up to its name by matching an unbelievably contagious melody worthy of Keane with worshipful lyrics befitting an old-fashioned Baptist revival. Even more powerful is "Tears of the Saints," a prayer for the lost and the sort of anthem that ends up becoming a rallying cry for various ministries (like Natalie Grant's "Held" or Third Day's "Cry Out to Jesus"), delivered with the dramatic build of Coldplay or Snow Patrol. On the more upbeat side is "Reaching," a broken heart's cry to God that resembles the energetic push of Sleeping at Last's Ghosts and U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind.Seeing as how Coldplay and Keane have already spawned a plethora of sound-alikes (Snow Patrol, Aqualung, Embrace, etc.), maybe it’s a mark of originality to go back to the fountainhead, as it were, and capture for U2 overtones. What do you think?
4 comments:
Thanks for the heads up on Leeland. I've heard the name before - but just picked it up on iTunes. Great sound. You know if Keane and Coldplay weren't popular these guys may not have received much attention. I think whatever is popular in secular (non-Christian) music the "Christian version" is promoted heavily. So many great artists loose their artistic rights with major labels; it's just sad. You can see what artists such as Derek Webb, Sandara McCracken, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn and Andrew Peterson have gone independent.
Check out this new group I found... they have a great acoustic cover of Hey Ya! Drop by to check it out.
Thanks for the tip, Dan. The sound's not bad...not sure I dig the Baptist physique and the kinda randomly groovy music video...goes to show some artists are better heard, not seen. ;)
The groovin' group is Outkast the group who originally performed Hey Ya! (Check them out on iTunes or Napster) I think when you hear the original it will make more sense. It is strange to see the too blended together; I'll agree with you there.
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