David Bazan is currently my favourite lyricist. His lyrics are hard-hitting, truthful and makes your mouth drop. He also has come from a very similar background as me (religion and family) so I seem to resonate with his struggle with faith and life. In anticipation of his new album coming out, there was a few excellent article written about him and his place in life and about the new album. Back when I was 14, I remember everyone being so excited about seeing him with Pedro the Lion at the Encore tent at Cornerstone, so I went along. He put me to sleep within five minutes. I just couldn’t appreciate anything and I was tired from 5 days of rocking out. Now, he’s one of my favourites. We tried to host a house show when he was doing his tour, but Ontario was probably too out of the way. We are going to see him in Detroit in October, he’ll also be in Toronto soon too!
The articles about him were well written. You can read them below, but even better check out the lyrics to the new album.
Read the Paste Magazine Article here.
Read the Chicago Reader Article here.
Read the American Songwriter Article here.
Read the Day Trotter Article here.
Read the lyrics for Curse your Branches here.
ABC’s Amplified did a piece on him, but it’s pretty bad. Crappy interviewer, crappy editing and overall just really poorly done but a lot of the same stuff comes out so if you’re not into reading I’ll post it anyway.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4bJgwCfNPI
When We Fell
by David Bazan
with the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo
i was made to believe in a couple of beautiful truths
that eventually had the effect of completely unraveling
the powerful curse put on me by you
when you set the table
and when you chose the scale
did you write a riddle
that you knew they would fail
did you make them tremble
so they would tell the tale
did you push us when when we fell
if my mother cries when i tell her what i have discovered
then i hope she remembers she taught me to follow my heart
and if you bully her like you’ve done me with fear of damnation
then i hope she can see you for what you are
what am i afraid of
whom did i betray
in what medieval kingdom does justice work this way
if you knew what would happen and made us just the same
then you , my lord, can take the blame
it’s been fun seeing you get excited about bazan’s work. i’m really excited about this thursday, i’m have an art show that is followed by one of his “house shows” (him solo, no band) at my old graduate school. i’ve always drempt of illustrating one of his records, now he gets to see my stuff. wink wink!
I really like Bazan and, like you, I’ve always felt his lyrics. We share similar upbringings and questions. However, as I listen to him speak on the video and read those articles I can’t help but be saddened. It’s as if he was exposed to a negative manifestation of faith (for him), and is now partly renouncing faith all-together.
I know what it’s like to come up in a western, evangelical church. Hell, I was fired from one. And although I have many questions and doubts about God and Christianity and how everything fits together, ultimately, I can say with confidence that I still believe God to be good and loving and am thankful that He allows me to see through all the bullshit (even if I only see dimly). And so it’s sad to see David react to his bad experiences the way he is. I don’t mean that I feel sorry for him, not that kind of sad. I guess I just feel sad that he doesn’t seem to be very hopeful, and that’s a big part of faith.
Doubt is legitimate and all, but I feel that hope really ought to win out.
I still really like his new album though!
I’m fascinated with his ability to hit chords with me in almost every song. His writing reminds me of reading the Psalms.
What I can appreciate about him though is that he is directing his doubt and anger and so much at the right sources. That being either his culture that lead him to believe certain things or directly at God. What would make me more sad if he came out with an album that was singing about high school breakups and banging random people (you know pop culture crap). To me that would mean he gave up and refuses to ask hard questions.
“What I can appreciate about him though is that he is directing his doubt and anger and so much at the right sources. That being either his culture that lead him to believe certain things or directly at God.”
That’s true and I too appreciate the value in that.
Have you listened to the new Album by The Antlers? The music is great, but the lyrics are breathtaking (the songs are written by Peter Silberman and they were written when he locked himself in his apartment for a year and a half after his girlfriend died). Have a listen to this song — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwkbRVqqxU — and be sure to look up the lyrics!
Also, have you listened to much Okkervil River? Will Sheff, and the lyrics he writes, are also unreal.
In my opinion (which, admittedly, isn’t worth much), both of these fellows do what Bazan does… but better.
Awesome…always looking for new bands…I’ve been listening to this throughout the day, thanks Dan!