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Switchfoot, The Beautiful Letdown
Vancouver
Release Date: October 26, 2004
Bursting from the hard to break out crowd of Contemporary Christian Rock, Switchfoot has torn out some new ground spiritual rockers everywhere.
In a time where rockers, rappers and screamers are mostly yelling about removing clothing, promiscuous sex, and gaining the "bling bling", Switchfoot is a breath of fresh air. After being picked up by Sony Music, the CD, titled ‘The Beautiful Letdown" was released by Columbia in 2003, and the four guys from Switchfoot have been flung into superstar status.
The surprising factor is that these guys have written songs that are challenging youth to challenge their world. In the opening track, and the first radio hit, is "Meant to Live", lead singer Chad Butler begs that "we were meant to live for so much more" and that "we want more than this world's got to offer/we want more than the wars of our fathers"; they call to youth to look at their world and want to change it.
A call to seize the day comes with the beautifully haunting "Dare You to Move", where a call to use today like it was brand new is put forth, a old concept covered by melodic acoustic guitar, echoic vocals, and dangerously placed distortion and drums (the song climaxes about 3 times) that even makes me want to go out and change the world. The carpe diem theme carries through a few other songs, such as "This is Your Life" and "Gone", making for a very uplifting musical journey.
The track that titles the CD, "The Beautiful Letdown" definitely does not live up to its name: it's incredible. A throbbing baseline follows trance beats that lead us into a hypnotic state of philosophical abandonment, as they sing "it was a beautiful letdown/ the day I knew/that all the riches this world had to offer me/would never do" – a far cry from lyrics of any other mainstream music. Again they cry, "what a beautiful letdown/ painfully uncool/ the church of the dropouts, the losers, / the sinners, the failures and the fools" as they try to make us see that being spiritual is not about being perfect and wonderful, but about giving ourselves up to something bigger and something that goes complete against the norms of society, and they cry "Your kingdom come" to bear their own souls to us in return.
A rare secular occurrence has happened. Switchfoot have made Christian rock "cool" to a hard to sell crowd of wannabes and attitude driven conformists – and better people may they become upon listening. With only a hint to Christian beliefs, the CD is packed full of challenges and stand-and-deliver-esque calls for change.
The talent lying in Switchfoot is mind-blowing: not only do they cover a wide range of punk, rock, alternative and trance riffs, licks and beats, but they throw beautiful melodies, harmonies, and lyrics on top of it all, making for one radical recipe for change. "I want to see miracles/ to see the world change/ I wrestled the angel/for more than a name", and whatever name that may be, we are officially called to change the chaos in our world and unite as one human race in pursuit of unbiased, brutally real love.
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