Review: Civilized Creature, Requited

Civilized Creature returns with Requited, another offering of symmetrical melodies in asymmetrical beats. On this eighth LP as Civilized Creature, Ryan Lane—the wizard behind the curtain—seems in his element yet again after a string of consistent records, as poised and committed as I’ve ever heard him.

Similar Not Same Old

On one hand, Requited sounds like what we’ve come to expect from Civilized Creature—extremely competent and meticulously intentional downtempo indietronica with enough spunk and funk to distinguish it from its coffeehouse peers (e.g., Bonobo, Bibio, Four Tet, or Photay). Reassuringly, damped electric guitars plucking transient, antiphonal melodies still show up throughout the record. But, even from the beginning, this staple of the Civilized Creature sound feels more free, less burdened. The stutter beat in track one, “When I Call,” teases the pocket almost to total frustration. But it works exactly as it needs to, and it knows it. It evokes the exact emotional tension Lane sings about. Lane has dressed his production in even more quirk, and yet somehow it seems even more willing to dance in public.

This subtle development in production compliments but does not compare to the biggest distinguishing feature in Requited, which appears in Lane’s singing voice: there’s simply more of it. You get hints in previous albums that the man can sing, but he regularly hides this behind effects or simply omits centering or prolonging sung parts, relying instead on instrumentals and spoken word to give him voice. “Even when my cover’s blown,” he says on the first track. It is. And it’s what all of us suspected: the man has pipes. Lane puts his full weight on his vocals by track eight, (“Through It All”), and his singing voice carries the whole song. Lane apparently found greater confidence and self-acceptance during a year (and counting) where most of us have felt singularly deflated. Which is strange, isn’t it? As I listened through the first time, I wondered how that worked.

Announcing: Our New Hosting Network!

The time will come when we can safely gather again, seeing each other’s faces, shaking hands, and embracing. I long for the energy of sharing meaningful experiences together again.

When we’re finally able to gather like this again, let’s make the most of it. And there’s only one thing that can draw people together like family: live music (and food, of course!). Someone once told me they love live music because of the “feeling of togetherness.” I think that’s a feeling we could all use right about now.

But restrictions around COVID-19 will keep live music and entertainment venues closed for longer than almost anything else. This is tragic; but in it, we see an opportunity for all of us.

Hillsong’s Marty Sampson and the Celebrity Christian Problem

Still reeling from the jab of Joshua Harris’ recent deconversion, unsuspecting evangelicals got another quick cross a few days ago. Marty Sampson—a praise and worship songwriter you might know from Hillsong—posted to Instagram that he was “genuinely losing his faith.” Uh-oh. Then, before anyone could say “30 to 50 feral hogs,” hot takes and news breaks had already fired off from every available digital missive silo on both sides of the Culture War. And the backlash triggered a whiplash the very next day when Sampson deleted his original post and issued a “clarification.” But the toothpaste had already exited the tube.

Marty Sampson Headlines in Relevant

“Relevant” headlines from two consecutive days

Some, like the satirical Babylon Bee, cast a mercenary light over Sampson’s career, clarification included. Others ignored Sampson’s clarification, still insisting that he represented just another Christian celebrity casualty in the epidemic of apostasy infecting the church.1  A crowd of Christians, many of whom had never heard of Skillet outside of breakfast, quickly viralized lead singer John Cooper’s rebuke of Sampson, which Cooper used to diagnose an apparently Christianity-wide problem. Bringing us up nearly to the present, a clearly beleaguered Sampson posted pained responses to Cooper and all those faceless thousands parroting him.

What You Should Know Before You Listen to Our Podcast

headphones-on-desk

What do you expect from the Renew the Arts Podcast? Do you want a trusted checklist for beauty, so you can discern with little effort between good and bad art? Looking for rules to keep your media consumption safe for the whole family? Want a podcast that recommends similar artists within your current tastes? Well, look no further than … somewhere else.

No, but all joking aside, we have found that many Christians enter into discussions of the arts with very specific expectations and fears. To be frank, we probably won’t meet those expectations or allay those fears. But, if you can open up your heart and mind ever so slightly to what the Bible teaches that the arts can and should do in the church, I think you’ll find we offer something far more bracing, freeing, and edifying than quick and comfortable answers.

Clearing Out the Gentile Court: A Story

Underneath the heralding of marketeers, the bleating and lowing of sacrificial animals, and the babble of banter in thirty native tongues, I could almost hear the sound—a haunting of the air—of music over the Gentile Court.

Is that a tambourine? Or coins settling on a scale? I hear a lament, a woman crying out. No, she squeals with laughter. I hear a bass murmur of another crowd through the walls, more unified, barely audible. I focus on it, but it escapes me. A camel grunts, loaded with goods. Where is the peace, the majesty, and the beauty I was promised in His presence?

The merchants and money-changers, some of them fresh from the temple, obscure the walls and pillars of God’s house with their heaped up crates and baskets—their shade tents and well-stocked tables. In a language everyone can understand, they pitch their wares. In mock service to the pious, they drown out every pious sound.

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