The Religious Imagination: Page France, Sufjan Stevens, Half Handed Cloud, Danielson Family, and oh so Many others...

Danielson Famile
In a follow up of sorts to my last blog post, I wanted to post this abstract of a paper I will be giving at an upcoming Popular Culture conference. More to come as I work on the presentation--should be fun!
"(Im)personal Jesus: Rebirth of the Religious Imagination in US Indie Rock"
In a recent article from Pitchfork Media, columnist Chris Dahlen claims that “ there is almost no strain of music as secular as indie rock” and asks why “hipsters hate Jesus”. In the context of an irony saturated indie rock subculture, in which the proclamation of “truth” is not considered sacred, but profane, a selection of musicians are creating songs that are deeply subversive and uncharacteristically countercultural in their relentless search for meaning. This growing community of indie rock artists has given birth to a postsecular musical Renaissance, creating music pregnant with questions about mystery, transcendence, religious wonder, and personal doubt. Musicians such as Sufjan Stevens, Page France, Half Handed Cloud, the Danielson Famile, and many others continually challenge the “truth” claims of what they see as a media-induced virtual paradigm that has become the surrogate for a “traditional” religious one. All of these musicians are well versed in the glossy texts of their culture; they ironically bring the products, ads, films, and shopping spaces that we call home into the foreground of their work. They use these postmodern texts as tools to not only critique the seductive metanarrative that has nurtured their own popularity, but also to create space for spiritual exploration. This combination of biblical and contemporary consumer metaphors opens up a new, relevant discussion of an “ancient future” faith. The rise, and surprising acceptance, of these faith-focused indie performers has also instigated the emergence of anonymous online communities that discuss what were previously considered to be “outmoded” ideas of faith. Along with the song lyrics themselves, I plan to read these virtual patterns of faith discussion within the emerging texts of chat communities, online reviews, and Mp3 Blogs. This shockingly earnest and imaginative music has instigated a new conversation, a reflexive dialogue, that continually re-interprets questions of both faith and doubt for its audience.

Paul Tillich, Sufjan Stevens, and Douglas Coupland: On Words That Need "Healing"

I was just reading the introduction to theologian Paul Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. In discussing the term "faith" he says this: "It belongs to those terms which need healing before they can be used for the healing of men. Today the term "faith" is more productive of disease than health...Indeed, one is tempted to suggest that the word "faith" should be dropped completely...".I really like this brief point about the seeming "corruption" and decontextualization of religious terminology. So many of our theological terms have become much more associated with commodity, scientific rationalism, and strangely systematic "religion" rather than mystery, wonder and devotion. Tillich ultimately argues that we can't drop a word such as "faith" as there is no other adequate term to replace it--and we need a label for this mystical "thing" that we discuss. We must re-invest it with the meaning it has lost in such a confused cultural context. But how do we do this? I don't want to try and answer this now, but raise the question. One thing that I think is very much needed is a new amount of respect and excitement for the religious imagination. We need to rely more on metaphors and imagination--concrete, creative descriptions of mysterious spiritual realities, rather an attempt to concretize through abstractions, reducing these words to correlating "scientific" principles concerning God and belief.
All of this discussion reminds me of my blog's first ever post, which looks at how Sufjan Stevens provides an awe-ful, rich description of the phrase "born again". Take a look here. I also appreciate how an author such as Douglas Coupland attempts to re-invest the often completely secularized (in the mind of contemporary society) term "apocalypse" with its prophetic, colorful, frightening and beautiful roots. Of course, this discussion (of Coupland) calls for an entire new blog post (or a 325 page dissertation!).

Review of Fear of Flying

I have obviously been on a DKD streak these last few months; please check out my new review on Identity Theory of his lovely new album.

Music Review: Bon Iver

I have just written my first (in a long time, since college really) album review which is up on my favorite new online magazine,Identity Theory. The subject of the review, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, is lovely-full of energy, raw honesty, life. Please do take a look at the review; I would love any feedback. I strongly recommend that you buy this album immediately--you won't be disappointed.
Here is the most well-known, perhaps catchy, track from the album: "Skinny Love" mp3


Also, above is the lovely, atmpospheric video for Bon Iver's "The Wolves (Act I&II).

Sufjan Stevens, a UFO, and the Incarnation

I have been thinking quite a lot lately about the postmodern rebirth of the religious imagination,particularly in the indie music world. This is actually why I am posting the videos and lyrics for these Sufjan and Page France songs. Once I finish all my exam and essay grading, I will be writing an expanded post on the larger subject. This lush, yet sparse, song from Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise takes the contemporary, quirky imagery of a UFO siting to somehow allude to the perplexing mystery of(and the disorientation we feel when trying to understand)the Incarnation. I also really like this guy's little homemade video--hope you do as well.

Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
When the revenant came down,
We couldn't imagine what it was.
In the spirit of three stars.
The alien thing that took its form.
Then to Lebanon, oh God.
The flashing at night, the sirens grow and grow.
Oh, history involved itself.
Mysterious shade that took its form.
Or what it was, incarnation, three stars.
Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes.