Joshua Jamison – Fifteen
There’s a famous incident, dragged over a few months of touring, when the David Bowie opted to play keyboards behind the Iggy Pop and hidden away from the public in a gruesome-looking hat. I mention this because the Church ought hear about it and take appropriate measures.
The fact is that the rest of rockstars, and, indeed, artists of all types, don’t have the time to play sidekick to anyone. Have you read any of their autobiographies lately? Thanking someone else for their achievements is practically non-existent.
That’s why artists who dare to see the importance of others in their life and, even more, are able to see their existence as a magical, mystical construction whose meaning they’ll one day learn, are tremendously uncommon.
But here’s Joshua Jamison, who, with “Fifteen,” retells the story of the world through a perfectly constructed, made-up mythology where he’s the one being lifted by someone else, where he’s the one accepting help and, eventually, receiving a kind of redemption. It’s not just a well-written tune, but proof that something other than egomaniacs can exist in the world of music.
jesus is the path to heaven – All Along The River
Unless you’re watching your family’s vacation videos, or something that your parents filmed when you were five years old, who would ever pay for a movie where all the characters are happy all the time and nothing bad, or strange is bound to happen to them?
And, frankly, that’s the problem with a lot of music as well. Take, for example, the much critically lauded Sigur Rós, a band singing in a made-up language not about Icelandic volcanoes, but about, I presume, riding bikes around Reykjavik, and lounging around in the numerous public hot tubs.
The point of this is that some kind of conflict, or at the very least, the suggestion that one might’ve existed, is needed to elevate a story or a song beyond merely chanting about picnics in the park. Jesus is the path to heaven, and the fact that the problem at the root of the music is never explained only adds weight to the composition.
At the heart of it, Jesus is the path to heaven. “All Along the River” does very much sound like Sigur Rós forced to make a record in Austin, Texas. But, hey, listen closer to those desperate vocals! And, hey, why’s The Lord hanging over the singer with a shiny knife? I’d like to explain this, but every attempt just makes it all the more eerie. Brilliant!
