The Pulse of Culture: Three Albums That Demand Attention

Joshua Noel: 00:00:33

Foreign. Welcome back to Some Joyful Noises. I am your host today, Joshua Knoll, and I'm excited to talk about three albums in this episode.

We're going to be talking about Selena Gomez. I said I love you first. Then we're going to be discussing the Lumineers Automatic, and finally, Mufford and Sons Rushmere.

I'm excited to get into it, guys.

This is Alazal Podcast experimental podcast dumping grounds where some of our leaders of our network, occasionally with no schedule at all, just randomly dump podcasts about music with no rhyme, rhythm or reason whatsoever. We're just staying noisy. And it's not just our host. You too. Anyone can host their own episodes.

If you submit an episode to us about music and you're like, hey, put this on some Joyful Noises, we'll think about it and we'll probably put it up here because there's no host. This is just randomness, guys, because that's what music's about. No, no rhythm. Anyway, I'm excited to talk about these albums I mentioned.

I will say up front, the reason I'm not doing the Lumineers Automatic album last, even though I think it's probably the best of these three, is just because I think Rushmir by Mumford and Sons just simply has more to say.

And I'm really excited to get into all of the deconstruction that it goes through, all the existential crisis that everything's exploiting, and even some of Selena Gomez' existential relationship ideas. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what I'm talking about here in a little bit.

But guys, for now, if you don't mind, subscribe rate review wherever you're listening to podcast, share it with a friend or family member to share a link specifically with someone. You can do it on your social media profiles too. That's cool.

But if you share it with a friend directly, they're more likely to click on that and check it out. So I just want to ask you all to do that.

Also going to do a shout out to another album I've been listening to that's we're not going to talk about today. Peter Capaldi just released a new rock album.

For those who are wondering, yes, Peter Capaldi, the Twelfth Doctor did a rock album and I actually think it's pretty darn good. So check it out. Yeah. So without further ado, let's get into the meat of it today. I'm excited for this one. We're gonna start with Selena Gomez.

I don't know a ton about her or her music. So let me start there. I am musically illiterate. I'm not like an incredibly knowledgeable person when it comes to music or anything like that.

I do understand that music's important because of what helps shape and it's kind of like the heartbeat, the pulse of our culture. So we're going to see what's going on in our culture. We have to check out the music of the day.

Selena Gomez is, of course, a big contributor to that in pop culture, mainstream, blah, whatever.

What I do know going into the album, when I was listening to it, a lot of their publicity has been around her and her relationship with Benny Blanco, who's like a producer or director or something of a lot of other famous pop songs. You probably do know them. Look him up. You'll be like, well, he's done a lot with a lot of different people. You would be correct.

It's very similar to, like, how movies and how it looks usually only hear, like, the actors or maybe the writer's name and not, like all the artists and the colorist and letters and the production people and all that stuff.

Benit Blanco is one of those people that you might not usually hear, but is involved in a lot of different songs that you probably only know the artist names for. If you're like me. However, because of his relation with Selena, his name is on all the songs. They're doing this kind of publicity thing together.

My expectation going into this album, knowing that was kind of like this was going to be all romance, lovey, gooey pop fun, which I'm down for. I wouldn't have listened to it if I wasn't ready for some lovey pop fun. But it wasn't just that. So album as a whole, this is kind of my.

My breakdown in the beginning. And maybe this is just because I don't know what's going on Selena Gomez life, like, at all.

It feels like there's this weird, like, jealousy trope or, like, breakup kind of stuff or, oh, when I leave you, you know, that kind of thing. And then later on it gets into the more lovey songs, but they're still not like, lovey dovey.

Although there is one song, Bluest Flame, which is absolutely the best bop on this thing. It's so much fun. There's not a lot of thought, not a lot to think on for that song. For me personally, I'm just like, love you.

Our love is stronger than Blue Flame or something. I'm like, yeah, hey, I get it. I get what you're saying that's a lot of fun and it's super cool and I can relate to it.

I just don't have a lot to say about it personally. But I do think it's a great song. You should check it out.

But then near the end, you get more of this kind of like existential, like love relationships end at some point. What do we do with this kind of thought? And that's the stuff I do find a little bit more interesting.

So originally I was only going to do the Lumineers and the Mumford and Sons, but this album caught my attention because it was a lot of fun. And I do think there's still a lot that it says that's worth seeing.

That said, of course, the most popular song right now, I think is Call Me when youn Break up, which has Gracie Abrams in it, who is one of my favorite artists right now. As far as new artists go. I love Gracie Abrams, really. We get into a lot of her stuff. I just recently learned that she's the daughter of J.J. abrams.

Somehow I didn't know that. But Gracie Abrams is great. I don't think she usually does this kind of song.

Or at least the stuff I listen to from her isn't usually this kind of song. But very poppy, very fun, and, you know, if we're gonna do some joyful noises, we gotta listen to some joyful noises. And this is a song that's a.

It's a fun song, even though it's kind of about breakup, but not really it's enjoyable. So I'm gonna play this one. Probably the most popular one on the album. Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Gracie Abrams.

Call me when you break up off of the album I said I you.

Selena Gomez: 00:06:03

Worth it Call me when you break up I'm battling the lack of a sublik for medication Try every obvious replacement in bars and strangers beds until my faith was in the basement Won't you call me when you.

Joshua Noel: 00:06:19

Yeah. Gracie Abrams voice is incredible. So is Lena Gomez, and I probably should have played Selena Gomez since this is her album.

But I wanted to see Gracie Abrams and hear her voice, so I played that part instead. Yeah, the song's just fun. It's Call me when you break up.

Unless of course, this is the one you're gonna take his last name from or something like that. Don't know the lyrics exactly. But again, the song is a lot of fun. I do enjoy it. It's the most popular one for a reason.

But the stuff I actually want to talk about. Let's gonna Start with this again is closer to the end of the album, but this is Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, don't take it personally.

And in this song, she's talking to somebody else.

Again, I don't know the background stuff, but sounds like she's talking to someone either who used to be the friend of the person she's dating, or maybe was the person's ex unsure about that, but the person is jealous of the time he is now spending with her. And, yeah, listen to this a little bit.

Selena Gomez: 00:07:17

And ever since I came around, it hasn't been the same. You probably got a dartboard of my face right in the. The middle. He sleeps in my bed. I met his parents. It's official. Please don't take it personally.

Some things are just meant to be. Don't waste.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:42

Yeah, so that's Please don't take it Personally by Selena Gomez on her newest album, I said I love you first. Yeah. This is where it starts to get interesting to me. So we see a few common threads in the music we're going to be talking about.

And I think it's important because, again, our culture is taking cues from music. Like, the music is expressing, you know, art expresses life, life expresses art. Copies are whatever. You know, how the tropes go.

The theme is this kind of idea of, like, destiny.

So we're going to see a lot of existentialists in the music that we're looking at today, as well as a lot of ideas of, like, destiny and what's meant to be. And this is like, don't take it personally. I know that you're jealous, but this was meant to be. There's nothing we could have done about it.

Nothing you could have done about it. I wasn't trying to do this to you. This was just something that had to be. It was destined. It was gonna happen. Talking about a relationship.

And of course, we do usually see that kind of, like, sweet notion of, like, oh, this was meant to be. It was kind of interesting. The spin here is kind of addressed to don't be jealous because it was meant to be, as opposed to, oh, it was meant to be.

We love each other. It's a little bit deeper there, but it's still getting at this idea of, like, there is something about destiny, about what's meant to be.

I would say that kind of language borderlines on spiritual.

And we're starting to see, I think, in a lot of different songs and to kind of like sentiments like this, a yearning for our culture and people my age for something spiritual, for something deeper than what's being presented elsewhere Now. I was torn on what to do for the last song because I.

I want to mention that the very last song on the album, Stained I Love is got this like borderline religious music and it's called Stain. So it makes me think of like stained glass.

And it's about how like some person, the person that you're with, it leaves an imprint on you even after they leave that it's completely changed who you are, which is someone who thinks we are defined by relationships. I love that song.

I could say a about it, but it doesn't quite match the rest of the stuff that we're looking at today or the message that I kind of want to talk about. So instead the other song I want to play, it's Afraid of Loving you is the name of the song again.

Selena Gomez, Mini Blanco off the album I said I love you first. This song again is going to hint at some of this destiny stuff, but also some of this existential stuff that we're going to talk about later on.

So it's a good one.

Selena Gomez: 00:09:53

Cause I'm not scared of loving you I'm just scared of losing you I'm not scared of anyone I'm dying young or if you go find somebody new Cause how could they love you as much as I do? As much as I do yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:10:18

It's the thing that I find interesting here with this song is a. I. I just love the song.

Like, I'm not scared of losing I'm not scared of loving you I'm scared of losing you because, you know, there is a fear when getting into a real relationship. There. There's a certain fear about it and identifying that as like, I'm not afraid of loving you Afraid of losing you.

You know, there's a lot of wisdom there. And it's a sentiment seen on TV shows a lot too, I think.

So it's not like unique to her or a brand new perspective or anything like that, but it's worth looking at, it's worth examining and thinking about. It reminds me of vision in the show Wandavision when he says, what is grief but love persisting.

The idea every relationship you enter into at some point ends either by death or by breakup or whatever.

So when you enter into a relationship, you're automatically accepting the fact that at one point you will be losing that person you just entered a relationship into. That's terrifying. I understand why people are averse to relationships sometimes because like, yeah, that's scary when you really contemplate it.

There's something existential about every relationship you enter into. And even though. Yeah, it's a beautiful song, it was also just. It's nice because it's like, I. No one could love you the way I love you. You know, It's.

It's. I'm not afraid of dying young or anything, because it's all about this relationship.

And of course, we all been infatuated before, I think probably at our age or if you're around my age. So, yeah, some of the sentiments you just feel.

But also you kind of understand that existential crisis about entering into a relationship, once you've wrestled with death a few times or been through a few breakups, you know, that a relationship will involve loss. Always does. It also reminds me, and this is not a new song, but it's. Or from one of the albums we're talking about. But I wanted to play some.

It's an older song, JP Sachs, if the world was ending. Because it's very similar sentiment, very much on the nose as far as what we're talking about today.

And also, I just kind of like the song, even though I think the video is kind of awkward, but it's fine. So I'm just gonna play a little bit of this song as well.

JP Saxe: 00:12:19

But if the world was ending, you'd come over, right? You come over and you'd stay the night Would you love me for the hell of it all? Our fears would be irrelevant.

If the world was ending, you come over, right. The sky be falling and I'd hold you.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:38

Yeah, I just. I love that song. I think it's really just a beautiful song, honestly. Main thing. But I also just like that sentiment again, you know, it's like.

And here it ties both ideas, right? He's like, we're destined. We weren't meant to be together. It's a line in the song. It's like, you know, we weren't meant for each other.

But if the world's ending, who really cares? You'd come over. Like, we would just be together. If the world's ending today, why not spend it together?

So you see both of those ideas there of this destiny, of this existential crisis, the world might be ending kind of thing. And I think there's a reason this kind of stuff's showing up in our culture today even more prevalently.

When that song came out, you know, the political landscape. It's hard not to think about that in context of all this. Like, people feel like the world could end any moment.

Like, everything feels like it's falling apart right now. So we're. We're going to see more existential thought in our culture.

And I think Christianity has a really good way to address that and think about it. I'm going to look at that later.

Before moving on from Selena's album, I do want to say, like, I just think the lyrics, everything, like, it's beautiful, the music's fun, her voice is really nice. Even though I do think there's a little bit too much auto tone. So it's not like my favorite.

And it's also just not the typical kind of music I listen to. Unlike the next album, the Lumineers, I very typically listen to folk and stuff like that kind of soft rock that Lumineers tends to be known for.

Excited Open this one. And this album is pretty much as ext. As existential as it gets. So I'm going to pause here to explain something.

So we talk about existentialist or existential crisis. That's usually different than when we talk about existentialism.

Existentialism is a philosophy that basically is this idea that we're all gonna die, everything's gonna end. There's no purpose to any of this except for the purpose that you create for yourself. It's about finding purpose for yourself.

And one thing I want to say about Lumineers and then Passenger in general, even though Passenger is not part of any of this, I do think you'll be dropping an album later. Which God. Folklover Dream. I get Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, Passenger, all in the same year. That would be fantastic. But Passenger tends to be.

We talked about this. Nothing existential, but. But in a more positive way. It's usually more of a. There's no purpose. We have to find purpose for ourselves.

And here's what that is. It's love. It's our relationship to one another. Wherever you go, I'm going to go. It's. Do you never know you love until you let her go?

Then you realize what you had and you. You want to keep that. It's, you know, like there's so much to Passenger that's about.

I would say he's more constructive existentialist, whereas the Lumineers tend to be more deconstructive existentialist. So there's more. We're going to die. Here's the bad stuff. And now do you see that you have to come up with your own purpose because it doesn't exist.

Otherwise it's more deconstructive existentialism as opposed to his being more constructive existentialism which I prefer his. Even though I'm not an existentialist at all. I don't agree with either philosophy. Personally, I don't think we come up with our.

Our own meaning in life. I think we're defined by relationships. So that's where we get meaning.

My relationship to God, my relationship to others, whatever those relationships are what gives me meaning and who. What comes up with my. What makes up my identity.

Since I believe that, I don't think I can create relationship point blank and that that is what's meaningful, I think those relationships exist and I can choose to participate in those relationships or not. And by choosing to, I find meaning there. But that meaning existing, if that makes sense. God's already in relationship with all of us.

We can choose to be in relationship or not to embrace it, but he's in relationship with us. It's. Well, it's how we want to engage in that relationship where we find meeting. But that meaning already exists, I guess. I don't know.

I'm explaining it poorly, but I'm not existentialist. That's the main point. Although I do agree with a lot of the sentiment. I can feel what they're feeling and be like, yeah, man. Yeah, I feel that.

I get where you're coming from. And I resonate with this music, even if I don't agree with the philosophy that maybe underpins some of it.

All that said, it starts off with about as much of an existential song as you could possibly get into. The very first track in the album, the Lumineers. Automatic is the name of the album. Favorite song, Same old song.

Which is also ironic because folk heavily gets criticized for just being the same music over and over. And they were like, we're gonna start this off with a song that's the same old song. That does sound a lot like their other songs.

Yeah, I'm gonna play a little bit before I talk more about it. I'm just ranting at this point, I think.

The Lumineers: 00:17:06

And if I was to die. If the plane went down and you survived, you ever wonder what your parents meant when they told you, grandma's in heaven?

Cause I don't feel it like I did back then in a black sedan of depression.

Joshua Noel: 00:17:26

Yeah. Just starting off with this existential like, hey, we're all gonna die one day. How are we going to want to die?

You remember when your parents said, grandma's in heaven? I. I just don't feel that anymore. The world kind of sucks, right? Like, it's hard to believe in heaven when the world Sucks this hard.

And I'm like, man, this is what a downer. But also I. I feel that, yeah, like, it's. It's hard to see the world around us, think that God is involved somehow and the world still sucks this bad.

And then there's going to be a heaven and a new earth. Like the first earth he made didn't turn out so great, you know, it's like, I don't know. So. So I feel the sentiment, even if I disagree with them.

Like, oh, man. Yeah. I'm feeling these feelings. Like, you ever wonder about that heaven thing people told you about?

I don't feel like I used to, like, oh, yeah, yeah. I get that. That hope is hard right now. And then building that up and then going.

And no matter how much all this stuff is going to happen, we're all going to die. I don't want to believe in heaven anymore. But we're going to keep singing the same old songs. Yeah. Very existential. I just love their music.

It's good stuff. And I mentioned I do think their album, like, musically, everything, lyrically, is probably the best al of these three.

It's the best album I've heard this year, I think. I love it. It's just so good. I feel like I need to play the Tiddler song Automatic off of the album Automatic by the Luminaires.

We're going to play that coming up next. And again, we're going to get to that idea of destiny, existentialist, all that kind of stuff. Destiny is a big part of this one, so.

The Lumineers: 00:18:52

Oh, love, oh my love or is it ever gonna be enough?

Joshua Noel: 00:19:14

Yeah, it's actually just a really good song. I love it. Once you really get starts getting into the Automatic, the. The second or third time through the chorus, I'm like belting it out with them.

I love it. I feel the sentiment, the verses.

It's a lot of ordering your caviar Seeing the next patient doing the next job doing what they're in our ruts Life is just what it is Is it ever going to be enough though? Oh, lover Will it ever be enough? It's automatic it's just happening to us we have no say it's just automatic and will it ever be enough?

That's the song. And of course it makes me think of another song titled Automatic by Hikaru Udada that I have played on a different episode of this podcast.

Gonna play again Just because I. Hey, I love it. And I can force you guys to listen to stuff when you're listening to this podcast.

It's your fault for choosing to listen, but also because I think the sentiment's interesting. So right now, the world we live in is like, oh, we're in a rut. This sucks. Everything's just automatic. There's nothing we can do about it.

And will it ever be enough? Back in the 90s, a very different world also in Japan, Very different.

Her song is more about romance, but it's like, hey, you know, his is also talking to his lover, like, oh, is this ever going to be enough? She's like, hey, it's automatic. No matter what we were meant to be together, it's going to happen. There's nothing we could do about it.

And isn't that great? It's exciting, it's fun. And I think a lot of that has to do with a different culture in different times. And it kind of exploits how existentialist.

Existentialism even is just more. More appealing right now.

It seems more palatable than that exciting, happy version of Things Just Happen that we used to hear more of in the 90s, I think, anyway. Higuru tada. I like to play her because it's hickory.

Hikaru Utada: 00:21:17

*Japanese lyrics

Hikaru Utada: 00:21:19

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:19

I won't make you listen to the whole song, but I love it and you just feel in the vibe, even if you, you know, we don't understand all the words because I'm not Japanese. It's just. It's fun, it's exciting, it's happy that it's automatic that things are just gonna happen.

Whereas this new Lumineer song, the tiddler song of the album is a lot more depressing. Like, man, we're stuck in a rut. We're just ordering a guy. We're just doing the next job. We're just doing.

This is never gonna be enough in the world that we live in now. And. And I think it's not just because it's two different people singing.

I actually think that the cultural attitude has shifted in that way of like, he happen and we're meant to be together to more of this. Things just happen and how do we make it meaningful in a world this dark?

I think that's genuinely the cultural shift that we've seen happen in my lifetime. And it's something we need to be able to address well. And also we need to just be able to sit in. We don't want to come with answer all the times.

We just need to be able to sit in it. That shift happened. We need to acknowledge it. We need to find a way to just meditate in that. Think about it.

The next song I'm going to sing is part of the singing. The next song I'm going to play is part of a complaint. Actually, the Lumineers album is fantastic. My one gripe.

So, you know, they go through all their existential songs and, oh, hey, this is why there's no meaning. And we should find a meaning. The song I'm about to play is called Better Day. Off of the album automatically, the Lumineers.

And I love it because it goes through these different time periods, the Crusades, different. You know, I think slavery might be one of them. And it's like, hey, it's saying part of it is like, but we were dreaming of a better day.

One day we'll have a better day. And then it gets to our own period. Rubber bullets, pepper sprays. Talking about the stuff. Whenever, you know, people tried to protest.

Donald Trump was just like, get him. You know, Pepper. Rubber bullets, pepper spray. But we're dreaming of a better day.

And it's this call, it's this yearning of, hey, yes, there is no meaning. Yes, life might be bad, but we can dream of something better. We can aspire to that.

And once we have something we could dream of, we can go towards that. And I think it could have left. This could have been the last song of the album. It could have left us with hope in this call to.

To dream of something better and go do it instead, though, afterwards they have another track that's just an instrumental, which they do with, like, two of them. I'm a little confused of why not just include the instrumental solos as part of other songs.

I think it's because people don't like listening to them as much anymore. I'm indifferent as to how they did that. It doesn't really bother me. What does bother me is instead the.

The in the album with another song that's basically so long, I think is what it's called. And it's just like, hey, there's no point. We gotta figure it out. Goodbye. I don't know, it's just a. To me, it's a downer.

And it's not a problem to have a downer if it's meaningful. I just feel like it wasn't meaningful. It just kind of goes back to more existentialist thought, which is cool.

But I think it would have been a lot more meaningful to have the song Better Day in the album with this call to aspire to something better. Anyway, I'm gonna play a little bit of this song Better Day from Lumineers off of the album. Automatic.

The Lumineers: 00:24:26

Rubber bullets, Pepper spray.

The Lumineers: 00:24:31

Cardboard boxes.

The Lumineers: 00:24:32

On the way Dreaming of a better day.

Joshua Noel: 00:24:43

Yeah, it's just a beautiful song. Beautiful music that goes with it. I really wish they would have ended the album with that number. I think it would have been really meaningful.

Next album, I'm talking about Mumford and Son's Rushmere. They end it perfectly, calling everybody out and really challenging everything, especially for us Christians.

This Mumford and Song album, Mumford and Song's album Rushmere is very religious, and it seems like people either missing it or not getting it. I'm kind of confused, actually. So it's not their best music. Not the best album ever. It's just another Mumford and Sons album, really.

But I still like it a lot. However, before the album dropped, even so, this is just. I'm gonna give a little bit of background on this one. Before it dropped.

One of the first tracks that released before the album was Malibu, and it talks about the same spirit Lives in me, lives in you and I'm just trying under the shadow of your wing Living a lot of really religious language.

And I saw one Christian website even reviewed it, saying, see, this is proof that people are yearning for something spiritual and there can be good Christian music. I think they probably should have waited till the whole album came out.

The last track on this album really challenges Christians in the church to do better.

So whereas throughout the album we're going to see some really cool Christian doctrines and ideas and principles affirmed, and it's like, wow, this is a really Christian album. We'll also see a call and a challenge to the church in the last track of this album that I think every Christian needs to listen to, think about.

And as the church, we need to find a way to answer this question, to respond accordingly. Not as like a defense or an argument against, but rather say, hey, I see where you're coming from. Let's actually think things through better.

Let's do better. I think it's almost prophetic in a way, you know, like the way which most existential songs kind of do this.

You know, in the Bible, the books of prophecy are kind of telling you of a possible future to tell you what you need to do better now. It's not just telling you, oh, this is what's going to happen one day.

Usually the books of the prophecy are telling you this is what could happen or what is going to happen because of what's happening now. And the call is to do better now. And a lot of our existential songs kind of do that.

I think this song does it really well, is calling attention to here's what's wrong and it's a call to do better now.

And I think that's also what the song Better Day was, is almost a prophecy in the sense that it is challenging us to think of something better to aspire to.

This album we're going to see a call of, hey, here's some stuff that the church has that Christianity has that people want and here's why they're not engaging and what we need to do better. And I think that's a really prophetic guide and it's fantastic that it's here. I really love it and appreciate what they've done.

I don't remember the guy's name, but there was a member of Muffin Sons after the alum Delta who was spreading some like alt rights news stuff or something. So he got canceled. The band kind of hasn't done anything for a while.

So after he got canceled, the Marcus Mumford, the, you know, the lead singer of Mumford and Sons, he did release a solo album I have not listened to. He also has a few interviews where he talks about how he was. Once upon a time, he was sexually assaulted.

I said it wasn't by anyone in the church or by his family, like people might assume. So just some interesting background to all this.

I was thinking about of like, what's with the spiritual yearning, what's going on in this album that's worth thinking about and God, there's a lot.

I'm actually gonna play four songs on this album because I couldn't narrow it down to three, which is what I was trying to do for the rest of them and just couldn't do it.

I want to start with the Tiddler song Rushmir off the album Rushmir, which I gotta say is one of the ones I feel like actually says the least of everything.

But before we actually play any part of it, I want to go through each song and kind of explain what's happening in the album a little bit more in detail than what we did with the other ones. Okay, so I mentioned Malibu, the first songs, like the Same Street Lives Me, Lives in youn Shadow of your Wings, that kind of stuff.

Then the next song was Then Caroline, which I don't have a lot to say about. I. I kind of confused about that song, honestly. I'm not sure how it fits. It's a good song though. It's cool.

Just normal Mumford, back to the roots kind of stuff.

You can also say musically the same thing about the next song, Rushmere, which again, I don't think there's a lot to say about it, but it does have something that involves the same themes are picking up on from the other songs when it comes to like destiny and existentialist that I think our culture is really clinging to right now. But again, it's something the church needs to address if that's what the culture is mindset is at.

Anyway, what's really cool with the music video for Rushmir, the song off of the Rushmere album, they actually let some of their fans listen to it a little bit earlier and recorded some of. Some of them listening to the song and used fan videos for the music video. And I don't know, it's kind of cool.

Again, it's not the most meaningful song on this particular album, but it's the Tiddler song. We gotta play it. And it's catchy. It's catchy. It's catchy as hell. Yeah. Down Again.

Mumford and Sons: 00:29:45

Is gone and buried deep.

Joshua Noel: 00:29:48

Yeah, it's Rushmir Men, My Broken Heart, all this stuff. I do think it's interesting that it.

In this song even he talks about time, don't let us down again kind of addressing again that existential crisis they. That we only have so much time for our relationships. For those who are in our lives right now, they will die one day. We will die one day.

So that existential thought still being there, even though the song is more just a fun, good folk Mumford and Son song, that's just a blast to listen to. Anyway, that song is immediately followed by the song Monochrome, which. That one. That one's much slower, kind of rough.

It's this idea of like, hey, things are black and white. That's our relationship. We're going to get back to the basics kind of stuff. We want to get back to the basics of me and you and so.

So in the monochrome, the. The different verses, he's talking to this girl and he's saying, hey, your life, there's peace with you. There's life beneath your feet. You are peace.

There's life beneath your feet. You are peace. There's life beneath your feet.

And then in the last line of the song, when he does it again, it's the same chorus, it was, you are peace, There's Christ beneath your feet. He's equating directly Christ to life.

So a lot of the reasons see this album, they're like, oh, you know, there's kind of non explicit, some religious hints here and there. But it's just the same on Mumford. And so, like, excuse me. He explicitly is saying Christ is life.

That's not like hinting a little bit of religious language. That's just explicit Christianity. Christ is life. And then pretty mainstream, man. Like, this is Mumford is like, as far as.

Like, if you know folk at all, you know Mumford and Sons, and he leaves that there. And it's like, I'm affirming that. I'm willing to affirm that. And like. Like, I think a lot of our culture is like, I like that idea. And I don't know.

It's a beautiful song, too. Very slow, very poetic. But there's. I can't play all the songs. There's just too much I want to play from here.

Next one is Truth, and he's kind of getting to like, what is truth? The idea of truth gives a little bit more to more Christian ideas. Hinting at it, but not quite going there as clearly as he did in monochrome.

The next one, he also gets to a lot of Christian principles and a little bit of religious language. This one, I could see some of the other critiques about where it belongs.

I love this song, and I am going to play a little bit of that here because has a little bit of some of the stuff I want to talk about here as well.

Mumford and Sons: 00:32:07

Does your anger overwhelm when you're weak? Do you ever think of living wildly? Let your anger go to hell where it belongs.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:30

I still just love Mumford's voice, but the idea here just kind of.

Again, this is more principles is like, he's down with kindness, gentleness, goodness, love, and putting anger in its place and using the hell language, of course, getting kind of that religious overtone. Especially when he's already explicitly said christ is life. I know it's a beautiful song, and I think it's a very Christian idea.

Let your anger go to hell. Let's just be kind to one another. Treat others as you would be treated. You know, the golden rule. All that good stuff. Again, beautiful song.

Next one's also a beautiful song, and I'm gonna play part of it too. This next one is called Anchor. And this one, again, it's more religious overtones than explicitly saying anything.

But it's the idea of, like, what anchors you for. Is it the divine? Is it love? Is it your relationship? Is it your parents, your family, is whatever, what anchors you?

And he's thinking about, like, finding that anchor and holding to it and what happens when you don't. Again, A very Christian idea. This very Christian concept. Especially if you believe God is your anchor. You're like, if I don't hold onto it, I'm lost.

So, anyway, I want to play a part of that song also, because it's just a beautiful song. But I think even if you aren't Christian, you don't believe in God.

This is still relatable because everyone has something that anchors them, something that you think is that thing that is what is most important to you, the thing of ultimate ultimacy. I don't know. I can't think of the right word. Here's the song Anchor off of the album Rushmere by Mumford and Sons.

Mumford and Sons: 00:33:58

Son. But now I've got to know myself. No, I'm the one that needed help. I can't say I'm sorry if I'm always on the run from the Anchor.

Joshua Noel: 00:34:18

The Anchor, yeah. Another beautiful song. And just the idea of, like, I can't even apologize.

I can't even make myself better if I don't have that thing that is ultimate to me. And I'm not holding on to that.

Whether that be God, your relationships, whatever it is, the romantic partner, something that anchors you is something that's necessary to apologize, to better yourself, to grow, to do anything. Which is also, again, Christian concept. And just really, really cool song. But. So after that, we have the song Surrender.

Again, more Christian language. What I love about this song, though. So again, I wish I could play, like, half of these songs. Surrender, he says.

What's the difference of surrender and defeat? It doesn't matter, as long as it brings me to my knees. And as much like he's acknowledging, like, the last one, he's talking about apologies here.

He's talking about, like, I need to be brought to my knees. I need to. Is that prayer? I don't know. Is it weeping? Being humble? I'm not sure. All those things I think are Christian ideas. But he's like.

He's talking about the need to surrender. It doesn't matter if it's defeat or surrender, if they feel the same. He's like, I need to surrender. I need to be brought to my knees.

The Christian weight of that. Like, the honesty of that. Like, all of us, whether you're Christian or not, should be able to acknowledge, like, hey, my shortcomings, my failings.

What does it mean to be brought to my knees to ask for forgiveness, to change, to be better? It doesn't matter if it's because I'm surrendering my heart or because I've Just been defeated.

As long as I'm brought to my knees, I think that's the important thing. Again, another beautiful song from there. It's a Blood on the Page, which for some reason I just can never remember what that song is.

I'm sure it's meaningful and great, but if I. I just don't seem to remember it, so I'm not going to talk about it. The last one on this album, Those are only 10 tracks.

It's kind of a short album, but Heavy Punchers is Carry On. I can't possibly say enough about this song. Not because it's like the best song ever, but because it's just.

I think it is just the sentiment that our culture has right now. And the church just seems to keep not addressing it for some reason.

And I don't know, it kills me me, because all throughout this we see, like, where he's like, I affirm Christ is life. I affirm the spirit in me, the spirit in you, that I want to be in the shadow of the wings.

I affirm that, like, kindness, goodness, gentleness is better than anger, hate and all this stuff. He's like, affirm all that. I know my need to apologize, that I need to be brought to my knees to surrender my life. But then you get to hear.

And he's like, but with what the church has, I don't want it. I'd rather be lost. It's heavy. It's hard to hear that after hearing all these other songs. You're like, oh, man, Christianity's making a comeback.

Look at all these Christian ideas. And then you're like, yeah, but this is true, too. Both things can be true. Christ is life, but also, who wants it when.

When the church behaves the way it does? I'm just going to play a part of this, but then I'm also going to read the lyrics. This is.

I think it's really important for the church to wrestle with this song and the sentiment of this that seems to be in so many people's minds and hearts right now in our culture.

Mumford and Sons: 00:37:08

If this is what it's like to be unholy, man, if this is what it's like, right, to be lost, I will take this heresy over your hypocrisy.

Joshua Noel: 00:37:25

And count any cost, even from the opening. I love this because it's. He's using religious language to critique the church, even. And it's meaningful, right? This is what it means to be lost.

If this is what it means, feels to be unholy, then I'd rather have this than to be part of your hypocrisy. Talking to the church and says, I've counted the cost. You know, that's a Bible verse. It's something that evangelicals like.

To quote a lot is count the cost. Salvation is hard, but it's worth it because you win in the end. And yay, Jesus.

It's like, I've counted the cost, and I would rather be lost than be a part of what you have. What a challenge that so many people are feeling right now. It's like they would rather be lost than be a part of the church.

When they see the church filled with hypocrites, filled with people who are supporting a man guilty of sexual assault as the president when they are themselves.

Many pastors are guilty of sexual assault when they're preaching hate, where they're preaching hate of LGBTQ community, of immigrants, of all these other people, but then calling it love. They'd rather be lost than be a part of that. And I understand. Honestly, I just understand.

I want to read the rest of the lyrics, though, because he still affirms, even in this song, a lot more of what true Christianity is about and still sits on that.

I counted the cost and I'd rather be lost, even though I can affirm Christ is life, even though I can affirm through to me as the spirit in you, Even though I want to be brought to my knees to apologize, to seek after God, I'd still would rather be lost than be a part of what's going on in the church right now.

And he doesn't say the church explicitly, but I think we all know that's what he's talking about, especially he did grow up conservative evangelical Christian, for those who don't know. So here's the lyrics to Carry on by Mumford and Sons. Again, the album is Rushmir, just recently came out.

If this is what it's like to be unholy man, if this is what it's like to be lost, I will take this heresy over your hypocrisy and count any cost.

If this is what it's like to be empty again, if this is what it's like to be adrift, I will take this darkness over any light you cast you in all your original sin. I'm going to pause here because I also want to know.

He does also call it not just the hypocrisy, but the idea of original sin in the church is nothing. He seems to have a gripe with, which I think a lot of people do.

This idea that you're going to look and say that people are just born evil and that children who die are just going to go to hell. And you're calling that love. So that, I think, is part of the hypocrisy he's talking about. You're seeing children just die and go to hell. Hell.

And you're saying that's a loving God. That doesn't make any sense to me. Why would a loving God want us all to be born in sin? Like it anyway? That's kind of the. The mentality here.

Carry on Carry on Because there's no evil in a child's eyes Carry on and here's where he affirms more Christian doctrine than the first two. There is still a stillness over the deep that's referring to the Bible verse.

With the Holy Spirit over the waters there's still a word in the night Again, more Bible. The day Blind stars over our heads again Wait with their light Carry on Carry on because there's no evil in a child's eyes Carry on There's no ev.

Evil in a child's eyes it was made and it was good Again referring to Genesis. Carry on Carry on I love this album. I love those lyrics. I think it's just so meaningful, powerful. It's just. I don't know.

I can't say enough good things about it. But I think this is the call to the church. I want to pull all these ideas together for a minute here, right? So we're seeing.

Our culture is acknowledging there's something like destiny, something like fate, that, like, things are just meant to be. Things are going to happen, happen.

There's this yearning for spirituality and this yearning for meaning and this idea that, like, we're facing an existential crisis, we're all going to die one day. We have to find meaning. Our time with each other, our time in this world is limited. The world seems like it's falling apart.

We're yearning for something spiritual, for something more. What is it? Where can we find meaning? And. And we see nothing. Son's like, hey, the church is almost the answer.

Like, people are looking at it, and I think they find ideas appealing. Christ's life is appealing to people. The spirit of me is the spirit in you that's appealing to people.

A God of love and life is appealing to God of kindness over anger and hate is appealing to people. Even the idea of surrendering, being brought to your knees to apologize, to find an anchor in this life that's appealing.

The spirit that hovers over the waters that's appealing to people, but when they look at the church and what they see is, you're saying kids are going to hell, calling it love. You're saying immigrants and all these people deserve to be exported and put into prisons and calling it love.

You're supporting man of sexual assault, telling everybody else that they have to be sexually pure and saying, that's. That's righteous, that's holy.

You're hearing pastors committing sexual assault and trying to hide it because you think, well, you know, if the church is stronger, that's better for everyone.

And we wonder why people who are looking for meaning, who want something spiritual, who want something more, looking at the church and saying, I'll count the cost, but that doesn't seem worth it to me. Church has got to do better. We got to step up. I don't have an answer for how, unfortunately. I think there's one that we just need to meditate on.

We need to think on still.

The season of Lent, Easter's coming up, and I think we have a lot to apologize for as a culture in the church, and a lot we need to just work on and do better. We can't have this hypocrisy. I know some people do believe in original sin.

I disagree with that doctrine, but I think there's a way to hold on to that still without saying, all kids are going to hell, whatever. I think we have to wrestle with how to answer that. Since I don't believe in original sin, I can't answer that for you.

I do think that everyone does fall short and everyone does come to a place where they need to surrender to find that anchorage. And I think the church could be a great answer if we would simply stop being so hypocritical, stop supporting evil in the world. Call evil evil.

Call good good, call love love. Preach these things of life, love, gentleness, kindness, goodness, self respect, and preach against anger, hate, racism, bigotry.

We just got to get back to the basics. The monochrome, what God has called us to as the church.

We see a world who is afraid to enter into relationships, but is afraid of losing one another because the world's whole fallen apart. We see a world that's acknowledging that, you know, we're all going to die one day.

We're not even sure if we want to believe in heaven because how hopeless everything is. They're looking for hope, and when they see it, it's surrounded by so much hypocrisy. They simply don't want to enter in. And I get it.

And my heart breaks because I'm part of the church and I love the church and I know we need to do better. So that's the call. Not anything specific. Just do better, better. If you're a part of a church that.

That has some of these issues, talk about it, I guess, figure it out. I'm not sure, but I think it's something we have to sit in. We have to learn to apologize better, to move forward better. Dreaming of a better day.

Because that's how you are supposed to end a podcast or an album. Dreaming of a better day. There you have it, guys.

Thank you so much for just hanging in here with me and letting me just kind of have a downer, I guess, of an episode. But I think this is a challenge we all need, need to contemplate and think about.

It's a prophetic word in some of these music, music, some of these songs that it's worth contemplating. So maybe a more fun episode coming soon. We're gonna do a. A big four fantasy music draft. Me, Brandon Knight, and Joe Day.

I think we're gonna get together and we're gonna do like, like a big four. Like if we were to have a concert of any four Christian artists, being clever. Which four? And they're like the big four.

Which four are we choosing for our fantasy Christian concert draft? It's gonna be a fun one. Looking forward to doing that. Don't know when because there's no schedule to this. There's.

There's no rhythm, rhyme, theme, anything, really. Not even a host. Remember, you too can host an episode. Anybody can. Yours might come out before mine because I.

We don't have a plan for it because that's not what we do here. Make sure you rate and review the show wherever you're listening and then share with a friend.

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And we hope you guys can join us in continuing to find more music to sing along to together as we keep making more joyful noises together. Until next time.