I’ve never commented on an album on here but here goes.
Mysterious Things by Evan Wickham is the album. I’ve been listening to this almost daily now for a week. Its in the category of worship music but the music is varied. If you know Ryan Adams’ music you will know what to kind of expect – originality and uniqueness. Ballad, rock, pop, and country influences the whole tracklist. Beautiful piano drives, anthemic riffs, feminine back vocals, melancholy to happy notations are all found in this soundbox. Evan has a voice that’s very warm and honest and carries the song into intimate melodic places. Compositions are dynamic, different and creative than most worship you hear. But that’s just the sound part.
Lyrically its just as solid. Wonderful truths and insight about God are revealed in all of the songs. Personal desire and passion are found behind every line yearning to be caught up with Christ. The words are simple, easy to learn and they invite the listener to almost automatically sing along after the first listen. One of my favorite lines includes, “Jesus Christ you laid your life upon MY cross…”.
Supposedly this album has been out for some time now…since ‘05 I believe. I’ve known about this guy for probably a year from cross browsing from other artists webs and going to several of his online pages. So a few of his songs I heard before. I finally decided to pay the man for his art. I immediately took to all of the songs. Each song was a masterpiece. Its one of those albums you enjoy from first to last second.
IT appears he’s an unsigned artist so he’s not marketed as most popular talents so his music is not played through many airwaves. But I’ve known others to become popular despite, such as Shane Barnard. I really believe he’s got potential to become a prolific writer much inline of the likes of Mullins, Hall, Barnard, Crowder, Tomlin and others.
One other bit of info I found is that he’s in the studio for his sophomore project (Above the Sky?). I’m sure many have been waiting much longer for it than I.
Saturday, October 29th, 2005 I witnessed the band named after a US spyplane named U2. Adam, The Edge, Larry and Bono were all there accounted for. I’m not the biggest concert goer but I have gone to a few. And this was more than a concert. After purchasing tickets online 8 months ago, I finally enjoyed a well worth the mulah night. American Airlines Arena appears huge holding 20K w/ not a bad seat in the house. We had tickets on the lower level about 5 rows up with a perfect view. The stage was simple donning a circle plank into the general admission area. The lights go out, the crowd uproars, the band appears all of a sudden on the stage opening w/ a wail from The Edge’s guitar transitioning the place into a sound show and prerequisites nicely into City of Blinding Lights. This was an unique opening according to the U2 website, but it worked out well bleeding into a rampant Vertigo and an original part acapella Elevation. The effects of the stage and arena were simple and to the point. A great effect was several curtains of LED lights that rolled down and exhibited moving objects (visualizations), blinks, and even monotone pictures. These along with a huge rectangular screen portraying each band member’s actions made for a stunning backdrop and very eclectic/contemporary visuals. The visuals were the least though compared to the raw sound coming from each member and of course Bono’s great stage presence. The menu included first album treats along w/ Joshua Tree anthems and a mix there and between including a good collection of the latest. Three times they came out on stage as encores w/ 3 or 4 songs each. In the first encore the arena went ecstatic on Where The Streets Have No Name and the band found total duende w/ their fans. It was such an super-electric song that got the whole crowd singing and yelling at the end putting goose bumps on the back of your neck. Bono, to my surprise, was taken aback and gave a shocked, “Hello…Dallas”. 
I took my wife on a date. An original one. We went to a pipe organ concert on campus Wednesday night. The performer was a guest artist named Wolfgang Reisinger. It turned out just as I expected and came out feeling soothed and moved. His first pieces were of old sort, the kind you would have heard in a 19th century European cathedral. I really have no hardcore background in music other than choir in high school but I’ll do my best in how I perceived the music. The sound was huge. Most of the pipes bellowed a conglomerate of minor chords that intertwined upwards with a few distinct chirps of soprano melody. The sound was regal, upright and at times pompous, but in its right. Sometimes you thought you were following the music but was struck with absurdity it seems, frustrated with making sense out of it all. At the end I figured the entirety must be looked upon to find meaning and solidity. (God can be paralleled in some respects w/ this. Only in his manifold of creativity can one make some “man” logic out of his dealings.) Wolfgang, and he looked like a Wolfgang, played improvised as one of his pieces, meaning playing w/ out music in front of him and creating on the fly. This, we equally thought, was the best of the concert. The music turned experimental, modern, light, major and spectacular and bounced to and fro between the spiring walls of the modern gothic hall. Both of the legs and arms were dancing around to concoct a beautiful sound from the most complex, arguably, instrument known to man. The pipes were smokin’ on this piece…Wolfgang rocked the tubes like the maestro of Notre Dame. The organ was his beast and he strained and bent those pipes into submission. His last piece, I sat with eyes closed imagining myself in various places, a gothic church in Italy, a royal wedding, an elvish land and even dancing w/ angels on the clouds (absurd, yes). And that leads me into the last point…whom is this pipe organ music really for? It’s really a toll on the mind to enjoy such a manifold sound. The music really does fit appropriately in the most elaborate gothic halls and cathedrals to exhibit the prowess of God. But you begin to think…is this for the ears of past centuries…is it made particularly for angels to fully enjoy…is it for kings and queens? I leave those questions as witness to our fugue spectacular.