divad23's Full Review: Untitled by The Benjamin Gate
Sorry about the title. I couldn’t resist ripping off a Puff Daddy* song. Now, on with my review.
It’s pretty normal for a record label to dish out quite a bit of hype whenever they have a promising new band on their hands. These days, with the advent of Napster, I’ve been able to avoid most of the flash-in-the-pan one-hit-wonder types with some simple advance downloading, but every now and then, a worthwhile artist surfaces who manages to grab my attention before I’ve even heard a full song. In the case of The Benjamin Gate, ForeFront Records’ new alternative/electronic rock quintet from South Africa, I had heard quite a bit of news about them before they even had a single on the radio. Their style, combined with the fact that their lead singer/songwriter was only 19, meant I had to give them a chance, despite my qualms with some recent poor decisions that their label has made in trying to be “trendy”. Now, I don’t listen to the local Christian music station much any more, and the words “Benjamin” and “Untitled” are apparently blocked on Napster, so I was hard pressed to get a full song to preview. (Don’t ask me why the album is Untitled; it probably just sounded like a cool name.) So I searched a few online music stores (most notably CDNow and ChristianBook.com) for song clips, and I ended up doing something I rarely do. I bought the album on the strength of the sound snippets alone. I hadn’t even heard their radio single yet – just the chorus was enough to get me hooked!
Now, you’re probably thinking, “Since when does divad23 get tricked into making impulse purchases? I thought he analyzed music and lyrics carefully before he bought anything.” Yeah, I try to, but we all fall short of our own standards from time to time. I can’t really say that I mind in the case of The Benjamin Gate. While the album isn’t as groundbreaking or lyrically complex as I would have hoped, I can still say that I’m impressed. Anyone who can successfully blend live instruments with an array of electronic wizardry, and pull it all together without succumbing to the desire to create a bunch of endless meandering techno-rave compositions will generally impress me. In other words – I’m a sucker for electronic rock music. On a musical level, this fills a void left by other noted female rock acts in Christian music who have mellowed more recently, such as Plumb or Rebecca St. James. It starts off with an edgy vibe and doesn’t let up for most of the album, and we need more aggressive female-fronted Christian bands out there. These five South Africans aren’t “hard rock” by any means, but they know how to get you moving, or at least lock you into a solid groove. As for their lyrics – most of the songs retain a fairly simple worship focus, but I wouldn’t call them a “worship band” any more than their fellow South Africans in Tree63. They’re one of those bands that writes their lyrics “vertically” – addressing God directly in most of their songs, but trying to bypass praise and worship clich�s in favor of an approach that is sometimes more conversational and sometimes more poetic. While I usually don’t think that works as well in an edgy alternative setting, The Benjamin Gate excels at it. The moodiness of the music often adds just the right aura of mystery and wonder to a lot of the songs.
How Long Stand and I wait, and I see You move, move around me. Nothing is as it would seem to be… The album starts off at a medium pace with this song, and lead singer Adrienne Liesching ropes you in almost immediately with her spacey, half-there vocals, recalling some of the more ethereal works of Plumb or even Aleixa. The song is a simple yearning for Christ’s return, and it does a good job of drawing the listener into the album. The lyrics don’t describe as much as I wish they did (the one drawback to many of these songs), but I do like the imagery of God swirling around Adrienne as she sings, and her echoing “How long”s at the end of the song are a nice touch.
Scream I want to be caught in truth, I want to be drowned in justice… Picking up the pace just a bit, this song adds more of a fuzzy, alternative mood, much like Plumb’s song “Who Am I?” The song rocks, though it isn’t as violent as its title implies. It’s a desperate cry to be overcome by virtue, to stamp out the sin of being human. The chorus is a bit repetitive, but definitely energetic – as Adrienne sings “We scream out, oh Jesus come down, reveal your holy crown to me”, you could almost swear you’re listening to Rebecca St. James in a parallel universe. The song takes its sweet times fading out, dissolving into a two-chord sequence of bass and other low-end fuzz that finally sputters and dies out. An interesting, unexpected approach, but it kind of hurts the momentum of the album by being placed so early on.
All Over Me Wave come, wave fall, cast me on your broken shore… Some brighter electric guitar chords call your attention to this song, making it instantly recognizable to anyone who’s heard it on the radio by foreshadowing the irresistible chorus melody that is to come. This song is pretty simple and very poppy – it brings some of Garbage’s recent stuff to mind. Though short, the verses are a nice little glimpse into Liesching’s more poetic side, and her vocals on the chorus are just mesmerizing – you can hear shades of Tiffany Lee (Plumb) and Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) all at once. It’s not the song of the year or anything, but it is wonderfully singable, and it’s not one of those cheesy Christian radio hits you’d be embarrassed to be caught singing, either.
Heaven I had all the words in the world, now I’ve got nothing to say to you… The band was smart to introduce this song with some more acoustic sounds, just to show us they have a more organic side, before filling it in with more of their misty electronic ambiance. For the first time on the album, there’s a little more going on lyrically, and the song isn’t as directly worship-oriented – a direction the band will likely explore more deeply in the future. Adrienne seems to be exploring a dichotomy between dark and light, sadness and happiness, God’s presence and God’s hiddenness. Still, there is a bright hope in the chorus (which at times seems a little too bright for the rest of the song): “As Heaven is open wide, I see these streets come alive.”) There are enough enigmatic lines to keep me wondering what inspired the song, and I always appreciate that ability in a young band.
Lay It Down Stand back, the fire destroys the sky, no longer need to be on the run from the sun… This track is pure rock attitude, opening with a thick electronic riff and not backing off from there. The message is, as expected, very similar to Jennifer Knapp’s song of the same name, but the musical approach is much more in-your-face. The song depicts the universal struggle that Christians face – taking the worries that “weigh a ton” and casting them at the feet of God, and it does so in a decently poetic manner. Nothing earth-shattering (the chorus is incredibly repetitive, but once again, wonderfully catchy), but a timely reminder, packaged in music that adequately captures the stress of carrying those burdens.
Nightglow Twist and turn in my weak soul, search for Your coal to burn me… This song always gets me moving, even when I’m trying to sit still. It starts off with a refreshingly fast-paced acoustic guitar strum, which is soon joined by a slamming techno beat. I can just imagine this one getting people worked up on the dance floor, and heck, I don’t even like to dance. This is probably where the band’s simple choruses work best for them – the “Oh-oh-oh”s during the chorus fit perfectly with a lot of the feistier dance tunes you’d hear nowadays, but there are actual verses to add some thought to a hooky little tune. The theme seems to be evangelism – God’s light shining through dark and sinful hearts to attract people to knowing Him more deeply.
Blow My Mind Joy breaking through my tightened fist, tongues flowing from my silent lips… This song is somewhere near “Nightglow” in terms of beats-per-minute and overall energy, though the drums are thicker and darker, and there’s more of a rock attitude once again, where “Nightglow” was more straight-up dance. The musical mood fits the title – it’s a simple song of amazement over who God is. However, this is the point where I start to wonder if they have more up their sleeve lyrically than two short verses and a chorus for each song. The chorus doesn’t even really finish its thought – “You are good, You are fine, You blow my mind/I see you and I know, whoa.” I guess they thought it was catchy and left it at that, but I’m probably not as comfortable holding it up as an example of the band’s artistry. Still, it rocks, coming thundering through your speakers for a quick three minutes or so.
Halo Even though my heart fades away, I will always return to You… This song fades in with a more relaxed beat and some catchy “do-doo”s from Adrienne. The title is sort of ironic, since at some points this band reminds me of a female-led version of Luna Halo (who very nearly perfected the spacey pop/rock style with their debut album). The theme reminds me of “Saturn” by Skillet – the image of God’s love as a ring surrounding us. However, it’s really disappointing that the verse is just three lines repeated, followed by another simple chorus. Not a boring song on a musical level, but couldn’t they have added some more lyrical meat?
Rush Your love feeding life around me, cleansing my sick mind… Ah, now here’s the density of song structure I was hoping for. The song is almost deceptively simple at first, starting off suddenly on some space-age sound effects that build the rhythm for the song, and Adrienne’s voice chimes in with a similar level of distortion to “Lay It Down”. After two verses and the simple chorus of “Your grace, Your grace, oh Jesus, oh Jesus”, the song begins to bend and twist, morphing through a nice little bridge in which Adrienne repeats the unorthodox line “Come put Your head up in my heart”, jumping back to the chorus, and then into an unexpected rap (provided by someone by the name of DJ Kwinolen), which I enjoy even though it’s a little cheesy and it sounds like it was inspired by the World Wide Message Tribe. The percussion drops away and the song floats on its spacey sounds, making you think it’s about to fade out, but then Adrienne breaks in with a frenetic vocal reading of Psalm 1. Normally, this sort of thing would drive me nuts, since I consider it horribly clich� to directly quote Bible verses, but somehow, this song has made me love the things I normally hate. It’s just a rush. You’ve been warned.
Secret A dream grows, can you kiss it with your lips? Here the band shifts out of high-energy mode to a more contemplative mood, starting once again with the acoustic guitar (though some sort of an echo seems to have been applied to it). Adrienne’s verses are rather curious, as she reuses her kissing metaphor, and I’m never really sure where the title comes in. The chorus attacks with a rather unexpected rocking intensity for what I thought was a calmer song, and near the middle, the song appears to end and then creep back in again. It all happens rather quickly, so it’s not like it’s never been done before, but all of these elements are used quite well.
Hands Sealing these dreams in shapes of purity, freeing my heart to deep eternity… This song is placed nicely as the penultimate track on the album – it seems to be just Adrienne and a lone electric piano. It’s a lovely ballad, an intimate prayer to God, almost like a space-age Sarah McLachlan or Natalie LaRue. For a band with a more worship-oriented focus, I’m actually glad they didn’t resort to doing tons of the slow stuff, but where they have, it really works. After a few years growing and changing with the band, Adrienne could likely survive as a solo artist if she had to – remove all of the driving rock elements and fancy electronics, and she’s still great.
Live Out Loud Fire reflecting in these eyes – visions of You, imagine my surprise… An anthem of sorts to close the album – definitely one of the more ambient pieces on the record. Once again, the theme at work here seems to be evangelism, but it’s not a song to preach to the listener – it’s a prayer that God would use her, even if she is a bit surprised that she can be used. It’s nice to see a young band on such humble footing – wanting to be used, but not making pie-in-the-sky plans to go out and convert everybody. Just my interpretation, I guess. In any case, a nice thought to close the album with, even if its atmospheric ending runs a little long. It’s kind of nice, actually, to just let the fading electronic sounds wash over you, as if being transported through supernatural portals of some sort. That’s just the imagery that comes to mind, and I hope the band develops their talent for balancing rock intensity with moody ambience more in the future.
True I’m not letting go, I see Your joy in the life flow… This is an energetic little number tucked away on track 77, frustratingly separated from the rest of the album by over 60 tracks containing 15 seconds of silence apiece. It flies along at breakneck speed, much like something from Skillet’s recent album. As a matter of fact, this is probably what Skillet would sound like with Korey Cooper (their keyboard player) as their lead singer. Perhaps the similarity to Skillet (a labelmate on ForeFront) is what prompted them to pose this as a hidden track, or maybe they just hadn’t finished the song yet, though the lyrics seem to be more thorough than some of the other tracks. I don’t see it fitting in as well with the album, though. It’s actually not one of my favorites – the melody of the chorus seems to conflict with the moodier melody of the verse. I can’t quite place the difference between this and the formula for many of the other songs, and this one’s still fun, but sometimes I don’t bother skipping through tracks 13-76 just to hear this one.
Ultimately, what makes The Benjamin Gate so appealing is their ability to please three crowds – people who like all the electronic wizardry, people who like to rock out, and people who enjoy worship regardless of its musical backdrop. I happen to be all three, so naturally I love this, even though I see where the band has a lot of room to grow. They’re a new band, and they hooked me in so easily, and I can’t fault them for finding a good formula and sticking with it. They will have some considerable growing and changing to do if they want to stay relevant – they’re not the most innovative new band of the year or anything, but they show so much promise. Given how quickly the band assembled themselves (it was a bit of a tribute to a friend named Benjamin who tragically died at a young age), almost literally picking Adrienne out of a crowd upon a prompting from God (so I’m informed), it’s amazing that she co-writes all of the band’s material instead of just being a figurehead to attract the attention of the teenagers. My hope is that they break out of their formula a little bit on the next album, maybe seeing what they can do with some non-standard rhythms or more sharp acoustic textures to counter the heavy electronics. Heck, being on ForeFront is probably the only thing holding them back from doing more of that sort of experimentation. Anyway, if you insist on all of your lyrics being amazingly complex, I might skip this one, but if you want some spiritually refreshing tunes that will keep you awake and focused, this disc will definitely do the trick.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: Nightglow, All Over Me, Lay It Down, Heaven, Scream Good: How Long, Rush, Hands, Live Out Loud Decent: Blow My Mind, Secret, True Weak: Halo Skippable: NONE
Band Members: Adrienne Liesching: Lead vocals Costa Balamatsias: Bass Chris Poisat: Guitars Mac Pautz: Guitars Brett Palmer: Drums Thux: Apparently, a ghost member who co-writes and produces the band’s material.
Website: http://www.thebenjamingate.com
* Disclaimer: divad23™ does not endorse, support, or legitimize the usage, legal or illegal, of Puff Daddy�, or any of the musical entities or aliases resulting from the aforementioned individual.
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