Faktion

My newest favorite band, Faktion, brings a mix of raucous anthems and soul-searching that bring to mind some ‘80s and ‘90s bands I loved in my youth. This quintet is guitar-driven and led by the vocals of Ryan Gibbs.

Kicking it off with “Forgive Me,� Gibbs tries to appease his sadness and guilt over hat was done for him. He sees the subject of the song as a “light in the dark,� who shines through his weaknesses. Still, he knows that his troubles are “part of me/Many chances that I take/to kill you again/it should’ve been me and everyone else.� My Christian background sees the light as the ‘word’ or ‘way’ described by Jesus in the gospels and embodies by his life—the fact that Jesus gave his life for others who do and don’t want his help seem echoed in this song.

Faktion’s sounds reflect light again in “Control,� as Gibbs claims to leave his life behind, driving down a one-way highway. “Liberation lifts the shell/that’s on me/in a newborn image/I’m the only one who sees/let the music take control,� Faktion cries out, considering new life in a new light. Anyone curious about a new life in Jesus should check out Nicodemus’s story, as a man seeking something he couldn’t find anywhere else. Faktion doesn’t make any out-and-out claims to Christianity here, and missteps will be documented later, but I have to wonder where their imagery comes from.

“Take It All Away� could be considered counterproductive to my argument but aren’t we all at different places about different issues? The band accuses someone of taking away what’s real, stealing from him, and he declares that he’ll take their pride away. “Six O’Clock� documents his regrets as he wasted his love (in an affair?) with another woman than the one he has a relationship with now. Now, as a traveling band member, Gibbs misses her but knows that the “Distance� is both good and bad.

Returning to deeper, metaphysical issues, “Answers� reflects on a long-gone childhood, in a search for meaning that Gibbs sings lies within himself. He believes the answers will find him, not vice versa, but complains that “It’s all too hard to force a change/We fret too much about this world/Just be your own and face each day/Answers will slowly come your way.� The process seems to be as important to the band as the actual answers, but the grinding of the asking and answering rubs against them. “I’m so full of purpose, but void of means� serves as one of my favorite images from the entire album: it’s flush with passion for the truth and the absolute frustration of not being able to grasp it completely.

And finally, while struggling with the tensions of searching for truth, Faktion ends on an upswing with “Better Today.� Gibbs sings of leaving his negativity behind and moving ahead as he says, “Today is a new day/I’m awake and expecting so much more/This pain can hurt no more/I washed it away.� Once again, I throw my Christianity-themed idea out there: baptism as a sign of sins washed away, Faktion leaves the mistakes made behind and moves forward with hope. I can’t wait for their encore album!

Pink: I'm Not Dead

I picked up a copy of Pink’s latest, I’m Not Dead, having been encouraged to listen to “Stupid Girls.� Not being much of a pop-rock fan, I figured I’d hate the rest of the album, even if my youth might learn something from the recommended track. I found myself pleasantly surprised at the various levels of depth to the album (while I’ll admit that a few of them were what I expected.)

So, I’ll mention the songs that caught my attention, and “Stupid Girls� leads off. Pink attacks the way that people in general (specifically aimed here at young women) sell out their dreams (of running for president or anything else) to become what they think others want them to be. Desiring for someone to take care of them, the singer says that these people make themselves stupid—betraying themselves completely.

Funny thing is, seems like Pink is just as guilty as those she condemns in “Who Knew,� where she fell for the words of a man who swore their relationship would last forever. “When someone said count your blessings now/’Fore they’re long gone/Guess I just didn’t know how,� Pink sings. What remains to be seen throughout the rest of the album is whether or not Pink can count her blessings now—the next few songs reflect her years of hurt at the hands of others.

“Dear President� with the Indigo Girls is a break from Pink’s relational hurts and significantly packs more punch than many of the less serious tracks. Asking the president to walk along with her as an equal, she sings, “What do you feel when you see all the homeless in the street? Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep? What do you feel when you look in the mirror? Are you proud?� She takes shots at “no child is left behind,� as well as the views on abortion and homosexuality promoted by the current president. I found this track more insightful than others in light of Pink’s album but also compared to the war-bashing songs that have become the latest fad on the average artist’s album. Pink is more focused on America’s struggles than on the war, and also makes insightful comments about the use of religion as a means to further politics. It seems that Pink, like the founding fathers, believed that there should be a separation of church and state!

Many of the songs on the rest of the album I could do without, but “Runaway� and “Conversations with My Thirteen Year Old Self� stand out. In both songs, Pink reflects on her own youth, crying out for help from others (God, her older self, etc.) to help her through a difficult period. Hopefully over time, Pink herself will become a stronger role model for those youth—right now her message and mode of communication are still a work in progress.

Edison Glass: A Burn Or A Shiver

Edison Glass’s subtle blend of rock in their album, A Burn or A Shiver, brings an ‘older’ Earl Grey feel—a maturity that blends the sounds of Joshua Silverberg’s voice, Joe Morin’s drums, James Usher’s guitars and Josh Morin’s bass and piano into something more classic than one might have expected of a premiere release.

Starting off with “My Fair One,� Silverberg’s words seem faintly Old English, as he calls to his loved one to rise up from “winter’s rest,� to end the hibernation of their love. He longs to “kindle sacred flames/of love within my heart.� And somewhere, my Renaissance Lit professor is smiling.

In the continuation of this dialogue between the singer and his ‘muse’ in “Forever,� Silverberg sees himself more clearly: “You never expected perfection/All you want is my affection/What is this about you that makes me believe?� The ‘other’ is elevated to a higher position than the singer himself—he is made better by his relationship with this other, and the higher power asks for little more than love in return. What Silverberg gets is an “authenticity of your grace given so abundantly.� In “Starlight,� it is confirmed that the other defines what love is, all of the time, regardless of the situation.

“Today Has Wings� welcomes a coming change and cries for the “sweet spirit� to place its mark on the people there. Silverberg recognizes that he carries too much pride and unfair expectation in his thick skin and wishes for something more liveable—Jesus showed a way of love like no other.

Having learned new ideas of love, Edison Glass struggles with “divided devotion and controlled passion/theories of purity that remain hypothesis/plural allegiances and dual monogamies� as “ghosts that haunt the graveyards of normality� in “Dear Honesty.� Wow, what a complex predicament…and yet they make a good point. What trouble we find ourselves in as we become overcome by our insecurity and pride—divided we fall but we unite with all the wrong things.

The band seeks to know the source of ‘rain,’ rather than just the rain itself in “The River,� rejecting the superficial discrepancies mentioned above. “I know there’s more, I long for something deeper,� sings Silverberg, as he feels drawn deeper to the river.

In the last two tracks, the title track and “When All We Have is Taken/Comfort,� Edison Glass seeks out comfort for all that ails him. He recognizes that truth is being spoken/sung out but that at times it feels more than he can bear. Still, he sings in the end, “I’m falling to grace again/When all we have is taken/Take it all, take it now, I surrender..� Here at last, the band finds peace in recognizing its position as less than the other, but raised to a higher position by its allegiance. Rather than focusing on where they are in terms of location, they recognize the benefits—peace, hope and grace.

Not for hard rockers and not for easy listening, their debut album falls somewhere in between. Edison Glass sings some interesting tunes—and asks some good questions—listen along to burn or shiver.

Armor for Sleep: What To Do When You're Dead

The second Armor for Sleep album, “What To Do When You’re Dead,� brings the sounds of Ben Jorgensen, Anthony DiLonno, PJ Decrocco, and Nash Breen to our attention, but don’t expect an uplifting message. This is no happily ever after—this is sad, angry and beaten down, but it seems to be intended to…help?

In “Car Underwater,� Jorgensen tells listeners that he is already gone, “in a car underwater with time to kill…I didn’t care that [the other] left and abandoned me. What hurts more is that I would still die for you.� Wow, powerful pledge—but when you’re dead, you’re dead. What is implied but not altogether clear, is that Jorgensen’s character is dead by suicide. He still carries with him anger against the other—possibly family members or a romantic interest. He closes by apologizing for becoming a burden and says that the other should just let him go. The dichotomy that continues throughout the album is one of both blame and apology, as the singer struggles between his own faults and those of the other.

Jorgensen’s character wanders around after his death because heaven makes him miserable without the other there in “The Truth About Heaven,� and apologizes for not listening to the other in “Remember to Feel Real.� Here the band sings of three regrets: not listening when the other was right, not recognizing that the people he associated with were not his friends, and finally that he was living a lie. He fluctuates between telling the other not to waste time on him and asking the other not to give up.

In a ridiculously problematic song, “Awkward Last Words,� Jorgensen sings “I wanna live again. I wanna start everything over again.� He promises to change what is wrong with him and make himself better for the other. But how can he do that when he’s dead? That may be the point that these rockers are making but at this point we’re still not sure…

Armor gets rather vengeful in “Stay on the Ground,� as Jorgensen sings that he’d “sell my soul for the dream you stole� and then flips back to wondering if the other cares that he’s gone in “A Quick Little Flight.� Does the one that he’s angry with relate to the one he misses or are they the same? Either way, his longing for the other he cares for drives him to become a “Basement Ghost Singing�: “You don’t need more noise in your life. I miss you more than you know. But I know time makes you move on.� This self-pitying seems to have taken over the album, as he moves into the ‘basement’ so as to be near her but not too close—holy stalker song, Batman!

Jorgensen’s loneliness drives “Waking At Night, Alone,� as he begs the other to stay with him because he can’s stand being left alone. He believes love drives him to madness but without it, he doesn’t feel alive. With that in mind, he credits death as having brought him closer to the other in “I Have Been Right All Along,� but the closing song reverts to the negativity that he’s discovered in dying and death in “The End of a Fraud.�

Here, on the closing track, Armor recognizes that when you’re dead, you can’t be heard anymore (shocker, right?) “Now I think I believe,� sings Jorgensen. “That I was never alive in the first place. They never heard a sound out of my mouth. Don’t believe that the weather’s perfect the day that you die.� Is this album actually a warning against suicide? The grass isn’t greener there—you’re lonely and tortured? The longer I listen and reflect on the overall content, the more I believe that Armor for Sleep’s intent is to point its listeners toward living fully with the time they have. Along the way, the message is grim and often confusing, but in the long run, Armor for Sleep seems aware that life is meant for living.