Copious Notes

Switchfoot is guitarist Drew Shirley, bassist Tim Foreman, guitarist and vocalist Jon Foreman, drummer Chad Butler and keyboard and guitar player Jerome Fontamillas.

After two side projects by frontman Jon Foreman, it was easy to start wondering if Switchfoot was still a priority for the singer-songwriter and his fellow band members.

The group delivers the answer to that question Tuesday, and it is an emphatic yes.

Foreman’s forays of the past two years included a series of seasonal solo EP’s and the duo Fiction Family that he formed with Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins. Both were outstanding efforts — the Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer quartet of EP’s topped my list of Christian music last year. But Hello Hurricane shows Foreman still rocks, as hard as ever, with his bandmates. If anything, it sounds like maybe after getting some acoustic side projects out of his system, he was ready to rock. Hello Hurricane boasts the most blazing lineup of any Switchfoot album since the band’s early years.

That’s not news to anyone who has heard the leadoff single, Mess of Me, which launches an arsenal of distorted guitar, something we hear a lot on the album. On recent albums, Switchfoot has perfected an approach to the aching ballad, something we do get here with a few selections such as Always – the prettiest thing Switchfoot has done since 24 on The Beautiful Letdown (2004). But this is at its essence a rock record with the guitars, drums, and Foreman’s voice pushing the top of the envelope.

Lyrically, this is a familiar Switchfoot blend of introspection, activism, and spirituality. Mess of Me, for instance, is the latest reiteration of, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?” and This is the Sound is the most forceful of several challenges to the status quo. While Switchfoot has trended toward the mainstream martket, Christian fans should cotton to statements of faith such as Your Love is a Song and Yet.

And the album is a cause for fans in general to rejoice that while Foreman has taken on different forms over the years, the mothership of Switchfoot is as vital as ever.

Third Day in concert. Photo by Dale Manning | Essential Records.

There is probably more video footage of Third Day out on the market than any other band in Christian rock.

The guys popped out one of the first really noteworthy Christian concert DVDs back in 2001 with Third Day Live: The Offerings Experience, and the band has offered numerous DVDs since, including the video accompaniments to the their 2007 two-disc greatest hits package. If this were just a bunch of concert videos, it could get a bit stale. What has made the band’s videos fresh is they are not “just concert videos,” and we don’t get the same things twice.

That is true on the band’s latest DVD Live Revelations, which comes packaged with a concise live CD, including several concert versions of songs from last year’s Revelation album and a cover of U2 and B.B. King’s When Love Comes to Town, performed by Third Day, Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Robert Randolph.

The footage for the DVD was shot during a Southeastern swing of the Music Builds tour with that mind-blowing quartet of acts, though the focus is squarely on the quartet of musicians who make up Third Day.

Yes, there is concert footage, and if you set this DVD next to that 2001 effort, you’d say, they’ve come a long way, baby. That first disc was great, but it was a few fairly static cameras, including one set behind David Carr’s drumkit that kind of bounced to the beat. This footage is sharp, sweeping and up-close, like an early shot from the foot of the stage of guitarist Mark Lee and bassist Tai Anderson jamming. It’s great concert videography.

But the two things you will remember about Live Revelations are the trip home to the band’s home in Atlanta and the trip to Houston after the devastation of Hurricane Ike, last Fall. The Atlanta footage is striking in how its takes the guys out of the spotlight and really puts them at home with their families. Driving from the tour bus to see his family, Carr talks to his wife in a disjointed cell phone call trying to figure out if he should head home or to his kid’s soccer game. We see Lee at the park with his children and feeding his eight-week-old daughter a bottle.

They are scenes any overworked mom or dad who’s come home from work not to a hug but an equally overworked spouse holding out the baby and saying, “take this,” could appreciate. And you appreciate that these wives are left at home alone for days and weeks at a time while their rock-star husbands are on the road. It takes a little effort to feel sorry for rock stars, but Jonathan and Andrew Erwin’s homecoming footage definitely stirs up some empathy.

The Erwin Brothers also capture some of the intent of the tour, and the fact the band considers its work a ministry, following the musicians as well as their tour mates to a Habitat for Humanity build in Nashville and then through the struggle to figure out how to handle that theme in devastated Houston. We see a conversation between Carr and Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman as they discuss how its hard to tell someone who just lost their home they need to go build homes for other people. That story comes back into the arena as the concert is dubbed Music Rebuilds, with all proceeds going to rebuilding efforts, and frontman Mac Powell sings the Hurricane Katrina anthem Cry Out to Jesus for America’s latest natural disaster victims.

It’s all a lot more extra-musical emotion than you’d ever expect from a concert video, and there are also insights into a band struggling to figure out how to present its newest music on tour.

Yes, there is also some levity and great music, so don’t avoid this thinking it’s a video of lamentations. But it is also an insightful documentary. When The Offerings Experience came out, Third Day was still a band on the rise, not yet established at the upper echelon of Christian rock. Now, they are there, and Live Revelations unveils the artistry, skill and sacrifices it took to get there.

Note: This being Good Friday, I should mention there is a wonderful rendition of Thief, the band’s great account of the crucifixion of Jesus told from the point of view of the thief who declared faith in Christ while dying next to him, on the DVD. I also always think of Jars of Clay’s Liquid as a great Easter-time Christian rock song.

Sean Watkins and Jon Foreman, aka Fiction Family.

Review: Fiction Family, Fiction Family

When you’re listening to new music and names like Lennon and McCartney, Difford and Tilbrook, and Neil Finn start rushing to mind, you know you have something good in your earbuds. When you mix that songwriting prowess with the instrumental dexterity of leaders of two of the most accomplished bands currently open for business, you have the first unqualified triumph of our young year.

Fiction Family is the collaboration of Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman, who le blog credited with the best Christian music of 2008 as a solo artist, and Nickel Creek guitarist and singer Sean Watkins. The duo reportedly met at a gig played by their respective bands plus R.E.M. and Wilco, which is to say Fiction Family was born of some great music.

The story is that this album has been in the works since 2006, with Foreman and Watkins exchanging ideas they worked on during their bands’ tour breaks. That means the disc is populated with two lead voices and a wide variety of instrumental ideas, from the sublime acoustic skips of songs such as War in my Blood to a jarring cacophony at the end of Please Don’t Call it Love by a spooky, airy organ. In some ways, this self-titled debut is somewhat reminiscent of The Beatles Revolver album, which combined the sublimeness of Here, There and Everywhere and the arty excursion of She Said She Said.

Christian market fans may be surprised to find little in statements of faith from Foreman. There’s more provocation of thought here, which has always been a hallmark of Switchfoot and Foreman’s solo stuff, in songs such as Look for Me Baby, a little banjo and bass flight that closes the album.

But Fiction Family also seems to be exposing Foreman to new audiences, as the duo is getting played on stations like Lexington adult rock outlet WUKY-FM 91.3 and has shots on NPR music shows such as Mountain Stage and World Cafe.

As much as any effort, Fiction Family seems likely to open a new chapter in Foreman’s career.

New Fray will be released in the Christian market: Beliefnet’s Joanne Brokaw reports The Fray will be releasing its next album to both the mainstream and Christian markets, on Feb. 3. It is a bit of an unorthodox move in the current marketplace, where Christian bands are usually driving toward the mainstream. Though The Fray’s debut, How to Save a Life, was a purely mainstream release, the band did catch many Christian music fan’s ears. In a video with the band’s single, lead singer Isaac Slade reportedly says this is how the group wants to release its music for the remainder of its career.

For the day-after-New Year’s Weekender, Scott the editor asked me and the other Herald-Leader critics to weigh in on what we are looking forward to in 2009. Here’s my list of local arts events.

Gil Shaham performs Valentines Day at the Singletary Center.

Violin virtuosos: Early in the year, we will receive visits from two of the hottest ­violinists on the planet: Joshua Bell in recital with pianist Jeremy Denk on Jan. 26 at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville; and Gil Shaham performing with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, on Feb. 14 at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Either one of the guys coming to town would be a big deal. To get both violin ­virtuosos less than a month from each other is huge.

Silas House’s new play: In 2005, the Kentucky author made his debut as a playwright with The Hurting Part, a play with the familiarity of characters close to our homes, sketched with great drama and wonderful language. In April, Actors Guild of Lexington is scheduled to present House’s second stage effort, and it will be interesting to see whether a new Kentucky playwright is indeed emerging.

TBA’s first season: In April, we will learn who is going to take the baton for the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and lead the orchestra into the future. After 37 years of George Zack on the podium and two years of a search for a music director, it will be fascinating to see how this person settles in, what he or she will program, and what sort of public face he or she will bring to the Philharmonic.

River of Time: In 1999, University of Kentucky music composition professor Joseph Baber wrote An American Requiem, a powerful choral and orchestral work that seemed a bit like putting Ken Burns’ The Civil War into a classical composition. River of Time, Baber’s opera set to be premiered by UK Opera Theatre in the fall, will mine the same period, telling the tale of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in Kentucky and the impact of his presidency.

The economy: Do I look ahead to this with anticipation or dread? It all depends on whether the country’s financial status continues to deteriorate or starts to turn around. Either way, it will dictate what arts groups do in 2009-10, and a severe financial downturn could irrevocably alter the arts landscape in Central Kentucky and across the nation.

Here are a few other things I’m looking forward to on the national stage:

New movies from Kentucky’s A-listers: Johnny Depp and George Clooney are notably absent from the awards race this year, but 2009 sees both with fresh, intriguing projects. Depp’s highest profile film has him playing gangster John Dilinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, due in July. Clooney is starring in Men Who Stare at Goats, the feature film directoral debut for his Good Night, and Good Luck co-writer Grant Heslov, a film about a U.S. military unit that uses the paranormal against its enemies. Depp and Clooney have other projects coming as well.

Other movies: We’re back with that old saw that Hollywood can’t make anything but sequels these days, and there are plenty this year, including a new Transformers and Harry Potter. A few reach farther into the past, and I am intrigued to see how Star Trek (sans Shatner) and Terminator (sans the Governator) fare with new visions.

Alan Gilbert taking over the New York Philharmonic: Like here in Lexington, New York’s leading band will get a new conductor starting in the fall. Unlike the recent line of venerable old conductors that have conducted the NY Phil, Gilbert promises to bring a new profile to what should be, but often is not, one of America’s leading orchestras. BTW, the NY Phil comes to Danville with outgoing conductor Lorin Maazel March 5.

Sean Watkins and Jon Foreman are Fiction Family.

Jon Foreman’s new project: The Switchfoot frontman’s solo EP’s were some of last year’s best music. He starts 2009 in collaboration with Nickle Creek’s Sean Watkins for Fiction Family. Speaking of Christian rock, I am also looking forward to new music — finally! — from Rebecca St. James.

The Obama administration: We haven’t heard a Presidential candidate or President-elect talk about the arts nearly as much as Barack Obama. His campaign included an arts platform, and both his campaign and transition team featured arts policy advisors, so it will be very interesting to see what kind of action this translates into. We’re talking about this more this weekend at le blog and in Sunday’s Herald-Leader Arts+Life section.

A few decades ago, Christian rock pioneer Steve Taylor penned a line that is exceedingly appropriate to faith-based pop: “If your music’s saying nothing, save it for the dentist’s chair.”

Jon Foreman

It is the last weekend of the year, and we are here to talk about the best contemporary Christian music of 2008. And this year, the best was definitely music that said something. We hope Steve’s happy.

1. Jon Foreman’s seasonal EPs – In the past half decade, Switchfoot has released some of the most thoughtful rock in the marketplace, Christian or mainstream. Left to his own devices, frontman Jon Foreman plumbs new depths — meaning, he’s deep. Foreman spent the past year releasing four solo EP’s of six-songs each, Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. (The hot links take you to the original album reviews.) Individually and together, they speak to the life of a 21st Century person of faith in a way few others have. His work includes thoughts on justice, money, sin and faith with bold statements like Instead of a Show, an indictment of ostentatious faith that lacks substance, to House of God Forever, a beautiful meditation on Psalm 23. We love Switchfoot, but solo Foreman is also something to treasure. Here’s hoping they continue to co-exist in harmony.

2. Grits, Reiterate – In 2008, the Tennessee duo of Coffee and Bonafide left their longtime home of Gotee Records for the independent market and released their most diverse album in recent memory. The disc dabbles in soulful and jazzy influences and benefits from guest appearances by Christian stars showing the duo to be simultaneously individual and part of a greater community. (I haven’t reviewed this for le blog yet, but will in a few weeks.)

3. Underoath, Lost in the Sound of Separation – Underoath continued to defy status as a niche artist by making a very accessible metalcore album. The band’s greatest asset is an ability to craft the torrent of sound it produces into memorable and even melodic pieces that attest the majesty of this genre.

4. Seabird, ‘Til We See the Shore – No, I’m not giving this Northern Kentucky act a high post because I’m a homer. I’m putting Seabird up here because its debut is one fresh, compelling piece of piano-based pop. There was a common theme of triumph over struggle in Aaron Morgan’s songwriting which was literate and evocative, highlighted by standout track Cottonmouth (Jargon).

5. Fireflight, Unbreakable – The title track was my favorite single of the year, an arresting testament from the adulterous woman Jesus saved from stoning. But Unbreakable was hardly a one-hit album, with more great power chord rock and ballads such and You Made Me a Promise, all delivered by one of Christian rock’s strongest frontwomen, Dawn Richardson.

6. Delirious, Kingdom of Comfort – Taking a cue from their previous hit, Our God Reigns, the British worship leaders have evolved into contemplative songwriters. Too bad they’re calling it quits, for now, after releasing this standout.

7. Andy Hunter, Colour – I have always been a fan of Hunter’s mix of faith with electronica and dance music and wished he made more albums. Usually he’s preoccupied with soundtracks and such, but this is a satisfying, if rare, experience.

8. Anberlin, New Surrender – New Surrender opened a new chapter for Anberlin, making a leap to a major label with an album that showed its individual, literate personality with a slightly more pop sound, including a new duo-guitar attack.

9. Superchick, Rock What You Got – Producer and band member Max Hzu has crafted Superchick’s sound into a fine concoction. While I would like to see a little more growth in lyrical content, it’s undeniable that nobody does female-fronted, punky  power pop as well as the Brock sisters and their band.

10. Third Day, Revelation – That the title is not a Biblical reference, but a request for more insight from God, speaks to the mature, thoughtful voice this Georgia band brings to Christian pop. And they can rip a Southern rocker with the best of them too.