everyone changes: a justification for anberlin's new sound.

Naturally, I was excited about anberlin's new album. When I heard that a great deal of it was inspired by the poetry of Dylan Thomas, that only added to my excitement. However, when I checked out their website about this time last month and saw the way they looked, my excitement was somewhat thwarted. Then I listened to some live concert footage of two of their leading singles, "We Owe This to Ourselves" and "Impossible." It was then that I realized that anberlin was going in a different musical direction. While it is impossible (no pun on the lead single intended) to determine the feel of the new anberlin album, Dark is the Way, Light is a Place, based on the two lead singles alone, I feel that anberlin is being especially true to their sound by adapting it on the new album.

I fell in love with the sound of anberlin from the time I heard their first album. The sound was a mix of classic rock and contemporary pop punk. The biggest problem with Blueprints for the Black Market was that the lyrics were set in Europe, and while they painted a picture in the distance, the lyrics were not related to any greater issue than romance.

The band stepped it up lyrically, but took a hit musically on Never Take Friendship Personal. The band had some great songs on that album, but also some mundane, even lame songs.

In the band's third effort, Cities, anberlin produced a masterpiece; however, I have never read a critic that has pointed out this truth: Anberlin's masterpiece Cities was based on two older formulas, the musicality of Blueprints for the Black Market and the lyrics of Never Take Friendship Personal. The similarity in sound of "Godspeed" and "A Whisper and a Clamour" can be traced to the similarity to "Readyfuels" and "Change the World" on Blueprints. Also one can notice the similarity to "(*Fin)" and "Dance, Dance Christa Paffigan" on Friendship. Sure, Cities implemented new elements, but basically with Cities, anberlin nailed their formula.

I was a little disappointed with their next album, New Surrender, at first, but I got over that with multiple listens. The first half of the album is dark (not nearly as dark as Cities) and the second half is inspirational. It draws parallels to Switchfoot's A Beautiful Letdown. Every anberlin album has had a feel and a concept. Blueprints is nostalgic and a Romanticized European landscape. Friendship is adolescent and Charlie Brown-like. Cities

is open for multiple interpretations (some have found characters to a story), but is ultimately a commentary on modern life. New Surrender is a motivational speech after the clouds of depression that loomed over the Cities listener.

The new album seems to have a feeling, but I'm not sure if the fans will be on board. First, I'll address the white elephant, the new look. Anberlin has never been a trendy band. They're album artwork in the past has focused on other factors than fashion. Blueprints focused on cobblestone streets. Cities focused on coffee shops and the studio. New Surrender focused on a the band chilling in a room with a couple acoustic guitars, a bottle of wine, and a picture of Jesus on the wall. The artwork for the new album is centered on the band, who now look like a mix between sixties greasers who were revived in the '80s and the Cure.

The new music sounds different--no longer the guitar runs of "Readyfuels" and "Godspeed," no longer the blaring guitars of "Hello Alone," no longer the confessional of "Dismantle.Repair." or "Cadence," no longer the foreboding of "Paperthin Hymn," or "(*Fin)," or the sounds of dissatisfaction in "Breaking" or the spirituality in "Miserable vius"--instead, anberlin seems to be taking us to 1985-ish. The journey takes elements of the Smiths, the Clash, and the poetry of Dylan Thomas, the style of the '80s, but the listeners discovers this is not 1985, nor the Smiths, the Clash, and Dylan Thomas, but an alternate reality created by fragments of each of those elements. This is my rationale if old anberlin fans. They made music for us, now they're being truer to themselves and taking us along for the trip.

Dark is a Place, Light is the Way--I'll be downloading it Sept. 21. Having said that, I'm going to share the link to their website and their latest video, "Impossible," so you can love it, hate it, or like me, just be along for the ride:

Anberlin's website: anberlin's website

Video: "Impossible"

tell the truth, but tell it slant

The only type of good writing tells a truth. That's why writers either write about what they know, or they do a ton of research only so that they can write about what they know. I am envious of the Romantic style, which writers would pick a far-off destination, do no research, and write a consistant story about exotic places which were completely inaccurate. Of course, there is a lot of this writing that we (the partakers of fine art) do not remember, but it would be so much easier to write if facts could be recklessly disregarded.



The piece I'm currently writing is a novel. I've been working on it for two or three years, developing details, but it wasn't until this April that I found the method of telling the story. I'm writing it as the protagonist's journal as he writes a rock album. It's pretty unorganized because the protagonist would not ordinarily journal his life, but he has turned to journaling in order to collect thoughs for his writing. If that wasn't demanding enough for me to turn into something readable, I'm also having to conduct research because I decided to set the novel in the '90s. I was in elementary school in the '90s, but my protagonist graduated in '96. He's nine years older than me. I don't remember much of the culture of the '90s. The biggest thing that I have to research is the music scene--I have to develop musical influences for the album that Vincent, the protagonist, is writing. I have already finished writing the album (I might change a few things), but I was most influenced by music of '05-'07. Now I need to listen to a bunch of late '80s to mid-'90s albums in order for the novel to be consistant.

Next stop, the public library. I need to pick up some Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins. I don't know if I can take that much '90s music!

i wish i liked tea

I'm a coffee drinker, been one since I could hold a cup. Sure, my mom wouldn't let me start regularly drinking coffee until I was in tenth grade, but you get the idea. Coffee provides energy and is just a comforting part of the day. Whether I'm drinking it while reflecting in the morning, as I'm trying to wake up for the day; or I'm taking a coffee break while I'm reading (as Nathan jokes, reading philosophy in a coffee shop), coffee is just one of those things that I can only describe as nice and good.

However, I've never been in love with coffee's cousin, tea. This weekend I house-sat for some friends who didn't have coffee in the house. Instead, they tea. Earlier this summer, I stopped drinking coffee for my trip to Yap because it would be expensive and difficult to drink coffee there. Yesterday I was fine, but this morning I found the tea collection.

So far I've drank various hot teas--Chamomile, Earl Grey, a Chai latte--but I've not really like any of them. This morning I had black chai. As I sipped the tea this morning, I realized that I liked the smell of tea better than the taste. I've realized earlier on that I like the idea of tea, without actually like tea. I've always wanted to read 18th century British poetry in a coffee shop, while I'm sipping tea. But the truth is that I don't like tea. I guess that I can keep telling myself that I haven't found the right tea yet and that someday my dream will come true.

It seems like tea should fit my image whatever that is (if you don't see it, continue to read my blog and you will might stereotype me as a tea-drinker), but how many other things are we supposed to like? These are symbols that fit what people would expect of us. For example, a rock musician is supposed to idolize the Beatles, but what if he doesn't?

Feel free to keep this discussion going about what we're supposed to like, but if truth be told, we don't.

saturday incidental

Today I feel like I'm living up to my screen name (uninspired). I've been debating on whether I should force myself to write every day, or if I should write only when the mood strikes. The latter option is not really what I want to do, because I started up this blog as a daily challenge to write every day. But some days I feel like I need a day off, plus nobody wants to wade through a blog of blah. So here's what I decided: saturday incidentals. I'll write on Saturdays when I'm inspired to write. Not sure what I'll do for the rest of the week. Anywho, I thought I'd propose a topic for discussion. I'm not feeling up to discussing it fully because it is a huge topic, but perhaps I'll start up a Saturday series on it. Here it goes:

Topic: the black hole in my church.

I'm a 23-year-old Christian (Seventh-day Adventist, to be specific) and a church-goer. Right away I sound like a weirdo. But come Sabbath morning, it gets really awkward. See, if I'm trying to do church the "right" way, I'm going to get there about 9:30 for Sabbath school. The problem is that I go to a small church. It seems as if all of the ages have a steady Sabbath school class, except for young adult. Personally, I don't know if this is a problem. I'm almost perfectly happy going to church without going to meet in an intimate setting to study a dull lesson, except for something that keeps questioning if I have the right attitude toward Sabbath school. Last year, a couple started up a Friday-night young-adult spaghetti night, which has evolved into what seems to be like a Sabbath school group. On Friday nights, everyone is more open to discussion, but on Sabbath morning everyone is either on-edge or absent.

I'm super impressed that people in my church have taken the initiative to start up a young adult ministry, but I'm wondering what others in small churches do in regards to young adult programs? I'll try to write more on the topic next Saturday.

friday rewind: "Cornerstone Experiences" 7.10.08

Contemporary note: Every Friday, I want to dig into my past blogging/writing experiences and renew that piece with a contemporary note. I must preface this post a bit. In 2008 I tried to get a band together. I could be all embarrassed about that especially because it didn't work out or by the fact that the Insomniac Tour was just a bunch of my friends that I bribed to come out to see an acoustic set in the parking lot of a Waffle House, but that's not how I role. I decided to repost this blog for Friday Rewind because many of my friends are at Cornerstone right now. I went to Ichthus instead. Also, I mention the Crooked Door, which is a coffee shop in my hometown that I played before leaving for C-stone. There's probably a ton of references you won't get if you're not up on the music scene (or my music), but I'll try to post some links for whenever you've got tons of time for an internet scavenger hunt. If you do that, I can't see why you would have enjoyed this piece enough to do the research. I'll shut up.

"Cornerstone Experiences"

I envisioned that my Cornerstone experience would be independent of the insomniac acoustic tour…I couldn't be more wrong.

.. ..

Cornerstone (as I consider it) with a special show at the Crooked Door, where a drink has been introduced in honor of my song "Autumn Serenade". Jacob introduced the drink first as a hot beverage, but he's also made it into a smoothie beverage. If you can envision what autumn tastes like then you can taste this drink. I really recommend it whenever you're in ....Marion.., ..NC.....

.. ..

The show drew some attention. I didn't expect the coffee house to be so full. Two years ago I would have thought I you were crazy if you said that I would be singing in a full coffee shop to friends and strangers. The show was energetic and a great chance to get some practice with the public and get my music out there. The highlight of course was "Autumn Serenade", but I feel that I got the audience more involved with the song "Vacation" (which will be undergoing a name change within the next few weeks). As well gaining great feedback from "An Unfinished Anthem".

After the concert, we spent the night at the Withrow's, meeting a new friend and violinist Red, and her friend Chris. The morning we left we met ....Israel...., who is an awesome lead guitarist. We then headed up to our first stop in ....Florence.., ..KY.....

.. ..

In ..Florence.., ....Israel.... and I jammed on a new song called "Adrenalin" and we planned to play it for our C-stone concert.

.. ..

The next day we made it to Cornerstone in the late afternoon. We set up camp and saw Maron and just hung out. Then that night we met the drummer to The Skies Revolt. He went to college with my friend Jason who went up to Cornerstone. After he left at about 12:30 an Australian dude from the band JaeL (never heard of them until c-stone) came bearing a trash bag of popcorn. We (our group) talked to him until at least 2:30. He shared stories about how they are one of the top Christian Rock bands in ....Australia.... but came over here. We share stories behind some of the bands in CCM, and it honestly seemed a little depressing. A summery of the CCM/Christian Rock scene is a lack of innovation and a rejection of record companies. I have to say if Tooth and Nail made an offer to The Bridges Project, I'd accept it!

.. ..

I have to say that the music last year at Cornerstone was much better. The bands were more spread out and there were more that I was obsessed with. But this year the community and new friendships not to mention getting to spend time with old friends.

.. ..

I will say this though, Anberlin was sooo much better this year perhaps because their moshpit was insane. I also saw The Almost for the first time and I really enjoyed them live, except the mospit was a sleeper for a hyped up punk band. They covered Coldplay's "Yellow" so well though. This was the first year that I enjoyed the moshpit fully.

.. ..

Last year I (being my first rock concert taken with my introverted personality) didn't like the moshpit until the last concert at Disciple. There is something awesome about practically wearing the guy who is next to you then shoving him into some other dude while all you can smell is sweat and fuel from the fuel that the band uses for pyrotechnics. But I didn't quite get that last year. It's kinda awkward when there are a ton of girls in the pits who usually just want to sing and see the band. No one sets out to push the girls around, but it happens when the music gets moving. I was so surprised how awesome Anberlin's pit was. I was expecting people just to sing to the poetic rock music, but instead they played their heaviest songs and the guys screamed from the pits pushing the poor chicks all over the place. Julia had to be the exception. She was like the queen of the moshpit! She could push, slam-dance and head bang as well as, if not better than any of the guys. Seriously, you guys need to get in a Christian moshpit (if you fall down someone always helps you up!). And if you want you can mosh and body surf at a Bridges Project concert.

.. ..

Saturday, we started up our own stage. The Bridges Project headlined, but was opened by Red playing some tunes on the violin, sometimes accompanied by ....Israel.... on the guitar and Kari on the drums. Then ....Israel.... did two Death Cab for Cutie songs and a Tool song.

I'm not going to like. I had been planning my Cornerstone set for some time. Next I am planning the plugged in show. The Bridges Project opened up with a tribute to my old music: "Malaguena" leading directly into the original version of "Defense Mechanism". I actually planned the set the day before, but I think it worked. Red added an extra effect on "An Unfinished Anthem" and "Fade Away" which had a full fledged violin solo. Of course "Vacation" had the sing along quality. ....Israel.... added an effect to "Autumn Serenade/ Winter Came Early that Year", as well as "Watch it Burn" which of course is a tribute to my 11^th grade beginnings as a songwriter.

.. ..

An encore was brought as we did an awful rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Paul's birthday, so I did parts of "Parabolas".

.. ..

Bottom line it was an incredible time. And as an added bonus; I met back up with my friend Josiah, who told me about a free download of music recording software. I will hopefully get some tracks up on The Bridges Project page by the end of the summer and if I like it enough I'll make "Unfinished Ep."

.. ..

Well, I gotta go, I've got a ton more Myspac-ing to do than I care to admit to. Then I've got to get back to life and hopefully practice for some recordings. Until you can hear it, continue to check out Bridges Project tour dates!

-Originally posted July 10, 2008, on "The Life and Times of Tyler.Kent." MySpace blog of MySpace.com/tylerkbarrows

a boring love song and a bonus track

a boring love song

We had known each other for quite some time, but I remember most the moment we fell in love. It was a Saturday in June, and we were at an Appalachian apple orchard. I wasn’t dressed up all that special, but neither was she. We were there for a kind of mountain music festival, and it was sometime during the chorus of “Ashokan Farewell”—during the chord change from C to B flat—at that very moment, I knew that I never wanted to spend another day without her.

I thought I knew what I wanted in life. I was going to grow up and be a music teacher. She was going to stay through it all and support me. We would have a happy life together. In high school I’d spend every moment I could with her. I’d say before graduation, we worked the best together. We did get to know each other a lot better after high school, but when you’re young and in love you think you can conquer all obstacles. But you can’t.

After high school we grew apart, slowly. I wanted to be a rock star, but she didn’t want to be a rock star’s wife. Slowly, we got different friends. Her dreams were too conservative—to be the wife of a music teacher. I felt like my dreams were beyond her. She didn’t understand me as she once did.

Then I left her—found a new love. It wasn’t fair to put her through my personal problems, and I thought I had found a girl who understood me better. Still, something in the back of my mind craved her. I eventually saw her on the side. I could tell she still wanted me. She had changed in that she was willing to forge a new dream. But I wasn’t convinced to stay with her. I treated her like a dog.

Years later, we met again. It was fate. I received a wedding invitation from one of my best friends in high school. I probably wouldn’t have accepted the invitation if I had known that she would be sitting across from me at the reception. She was cold to me. I don’t blame her after the hell I put her through. I was in line to get one last drink before I hit the road, when she came up to speak to me. Her voice was timid, and I could tell that she wanted to run away, but forced herself to stand there. “I just want to know why.”

I had no explanation. It was just that I was young and dumb and didn’t know what I wanted. I fumbled through those words. To that she replied firmly. “Just give me one last dance so that I can know that it’s over.” I couldn’t refuse. I knew that there was no reason that I would get back together with this girl. I felt like I had ruined her life and I couldn’t put her through more of my crap.

The band was good. They were a jazz standards band, but they mixed the old Tony Benet and Dean Martin songs with a few current pop songs. I think everyone was happy with the music. But the song didn’t matter when it came time for our dance. I was ordinarily a good dance, but I was awkward with her now. It was a slow dance to “Autumn Leaves,” an appropriate choice considering the way that this relationship had deteriorated.

“I have been such an awful lover,” I said toward the end of the song. I had to break the tension somehow. That was probably not the best thing to say. She was silent then she replied. “Yes, you put me through a lot, but I don’t want this dance to be our deathbed confessions. I want to enjoy you for who you were and you to enjoy me for who I was.”

The dance ended, and then I did something I shouldn’t have. I asked her to another dance. After all I had put her through, she accepted. We were married the next year about that time.

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a discussion [bonus track]

I've been looking for ways to express how I feel about my changing dreams. Without ruining multiple interpretations of the story above, I'd like to say that the girl in the story represents my guitar or my dreams to be a musician. The wedding dance represents an obligation that I had this summer to start practicing again. Finally, the outcome represents me falling in love with music again.

There was a time in my life when I felt as if I was defined by my guitar. I used to play for church all the time, and people knew me because of my music. Often people at church ask me how I'm doing with my degree in music. Every time I tell them that I'm pursuing a degree in English education, something inside of me dies. I say, it's for practicality. Schools need English teachers especially because states are cutting funding for music programs. But that's only part of the reason why I chose not to continue studying music. My main reason was that I was that I started out as a guitar teacher and didn't feel like there was enough time for me to become as proficient in piano as I needed to be before entering a music program. Also, I should study band because schools don't hire piano teachers and this was just another one of the odds I was up against. Another reason was that I wanted to give up on reading classical music and write rock songs; I felt I couldn't express myself through other composer's music as fully as I could through my own compositions and I didn't want to compose classical music. Finally, I felt at times more in love with building a theoretical knowledge of music rather than actually playing it. However, studying theory seemed useless. I didn't want to be another Christopher Parkening. I liked playing weddings more than that, but in the long run, I felt that everything I did with music was a dead end road. That's why I switched to studying literature.

This summer, however, I think I'm finding a balance. I don't know how music fits into my life--I know that when I get back to school, my skills seem weak compared to Southern's school of music and the praise and even the rock guitarists who play for church. But my music was never really part of either category. I'm just going to practice for an hour or more each day and let my guitar tell me what to play. Whether or not I perform again and in which niche I will perform, I'm not going to worry about when I pick up my guitar. I used to practice with an agenda--either for a wedding, a CD, church, a concert with friends, etc. But now I'm going to work on some things I've been putting off, like reading notes in higher positions.

At the beginning of this summer when I forced myself to practice, I hated playing guitar, but now I feel as if I've been reunited with a long-lost loved one. What comes of this restored relationship, only God knows.