Well, how about this? After a bit of a slow start for the year 2004, I've found some music to get excited about. Worship music, no less. Can you believe it?

If you're even peripherally interested in the sub-genre of music labeled "Christian", you've probably run across the whole worship debate plenty of times by now. At the crux of the debate are some important questions. Does ministry supercede artistry? Should critics try not to be so picky about originality when a worship leader or band clearly has their heart in the right place? Is creating songs for use in corporate worship the single most important thing that musicians who follow the Christian faith can be doing right now? We've seen a lot of trial and (some might say) error in different musicians' attempt to bridge the gap between culturally relevant music and vertical lyrics that ascribe glory to God, especially so in the last five or six years since the "worship trend" really took off. Has Christian music as a whole gotten stronger due to the popularity of worship music, or has is become narrow-minded, existing only to make listeners even more at ease in their comfort zones? I tend to fall on the side that says we need a little more diversity, both in style and in content, and that relating personal experience and valuing artistic creativity can glorify God just as much.

But sometimes, a band comes along that allows me to lay aside those questions for once and enjoy the best of both worlds. Last week, I was exposed to such a band. My roommate had invited me to a free concert by a newly signed band called Something Like Silas that we had both heard good things about. On that same day, in a move that can only be described as divine coincidence, just minutes before we headed out the door to attend this concert, I came across a package in the mail that turned out to be a copy of Something Like Silas's label debut, Divine Invitation. A free concert and free CD by the same band, all in one day! (Being a critic has its perks, I guess.) But it's not what I paid to hear this band that makes me excited about them. It's the fact that they're making a valiant attempt to bridge the worlds of musical artistry and reverent worship.

Imagine intimate and yet grandiose songs of praise played with the fervor of a band like U2. OK, so pretty much every modern worship band cops U2 these days. Big whoop, right? Now mix in a little electric guitar ambiance in the vein of Sleeping at Last, Radiohead, or Coldplay, and a little bit of the electrified fervor of The Benjamin Gate. Sound a little more interesting? Well, how about if we topped that off with keyboards and bells and other chimey sounds evocative of the wintry landscape of a Sigur Ros album (and maybe a slight amount of the guitar noise, too)? Heck, I'm impressed that a modern worship band would have heard of Sigur Ros, much less cited them as an influence. Those are probably half of the musical touchstones that can be named here - Something Like Silas is thankfully one of those bands who can't be described as sounding like "The Christian (insert popular mainstream act here)." The five-piece band, which hails from the San Diego area, has managed to merge accessible, radio-friendly modern rock with a more reflective, moody style that knows how to slowly build to a crescendo instead of going immediately for the jugular on every occasion. They're one of those bands that can be on fire one minute, and shrouded in snow the next, and entirely convincing in either setting. Man, I don't think I've been this enthused about a worship band since the first time I heard Delirious? or SonicFlood. It's been far too long.

I suppose that a major CCM label debut is bound to have its drawbacks, though. Maybe it has something to do with the vocal approach, but lead singer Eric Owyoung reminds me quite a bit of David Crowder in the way that he puts his lyrics together - they're often simply phrased, and that's usually not a bad thing, but just like the David Crowder Band, they can get hung up in clichés from time to time. There's a fine line between simplistic and cliché, and I haven't quite figured out where that line is. When the music is quality, though, I don't get as distracted, because I tend to see lyrics as being there to help create a mood, an aura, and not to carry the entire weight of the song on their own. And the music on this album generally does that; however, I can't help but feel like producers Steve Hindalong and Derri Daugherty boxed the band in a little and dulled some of their fire. Maybe I'm just biased because I was underwhelmed with the City on a Hill projects, but there are times when it seems like these songs should just be exploding out of my speakers, and they don't quite cross that threshold the way that a classic track by U2 or Delirious? might. That's something I generally blame producers for. (On the upside, the name Marc Byrd is nowhere to be found on this project.) There are also times when I feel like a song could go on longer, like it's meant to carry the listener away, but it stops short of doing that in order to keep the tracks under five minutes apiece.

Nonetheless, those constraints, whether real or just perceived, can't stop the band from standing out as unique. Eric is a passionate and convincing front man, guitarist Nick Maybury has a thing for distortion pedals that adds a bit of kick to songs that might otherwise be straightforward modern rock tunes, and Lenny Beh is a fine drummer in both quiet and loud settings. The icing on the cake, however, is Eric's wife Malina, who adds a unique touch with her keyboards and vocals. The glowing atmosphere that she manages to add to these songs is worlds apart from the cheesy keyboard work that you'd expect on your average Christian album. (In other words, no syrupy fake strings here!) All in all, this group does a fine job of standing out, and they don't have to play the "look-there's-a-girl-in-the-band" card or the race card to get noticed. (Exactly half of this band is Asian-American, just for the record. And there are five members. You do the math.)

So anyway, combine all of this into a coherent album whose musical mood matches its lyrical aspirations, and I think you've got a winner here. It's not a perfect album, but more often than not, Something Like Silas manages to find that blissful creative space where the mood of the music evokes the grandeur of the subject that it is based on, accurately reflecting the sense of wonder and mystery that seems to have gotten lost in most worship music these days as it seeks out the perfect pop hook. To be honest, I don't know how a band with these characteristics made it this far in such a fickle musical climate. But I'm sure glad they did.

Creation's Call
All the silence, all the dark
Could not describe the mystery of His work
From age to age...
The band starts things off in fairly traditional fashion - the steady strum of an acoustic guitar and Eric's meditative lyrics serve as a compelling call to worship. Right away, from the phrase "All my words, all my heart, could not capture the beauty of His art", it's easy to get the feeling that Something Like Silas likes to focus on the attributes of God that are infinite and wholly other, and often times hard to explain. While we've all heard numerous songs that depict nature crying out to God in praise, the way that this song's chorus explodes with rocking force helps to capture the intensity and excitement of such an occurrence - "the unrestricted praise", as they call it. It's not as noticeable under the surface, but Nick adds a bit of shimmering depth to the song with the effects that he uses on his guitars, and Lenny gets some syncopated drum patterns in just to give the song that much more of a hook. In a live setting, they concluded the song rather suddenly as Nick rubbed his guitar strings against the mic stand, causing some interesting metallic cacophony to ensue, but on the record, they're a little tamer, allowing the song's rhythm to break away suddenly and the song to end with a single fading note from the guitar. It's short and sweet in a way, since it never returns to its chorus after the instrumental bridge - a few of SLS's tunes are like that.

Words That You Say
Teach me to wholly offer
More than words that I can sing
So I become the song I bring...
A somewhat unexpected approach is taken on the second song, which is constructed on a gentle latticework of clean electric guitar and light percussion, later building to an instrumental crescendo. It takes a few minutes before it's apparent that the song is growing in its intensity, since at first it's a quiet, simple prayer for worship music to be more than just music. It's as if the relative quietness of the song is intended to allow space for what Eric is asking God for here - to speak back to him and to allow him to mean the things he's singing. While it's explained in fairly simple terms, something about these lyrics really resonates with me. Too often it feels like the whole "modern worship" trend is rather one-sided - we love to spout off the same words to God over and over about how much God loves us and we love God, but rarely do we hear songs that ask God to challenge us, and to live out worship by actually obeying God's commands and reflecting the light of God to a hurting world. I'm glad that the band has a grasp on this concept of worship involving a two-way conversation between man and God.

Infinite
Though I fear I walk alone
You reach into my soul
Your love is far beyond the infinite...
While this song is an obvious single if I've ever heard one, I like how it starts off with a somewhat unpredictable pattern of drums and electric guitar picking, while John Luzzi's bass bumps along in the background - something about this verse is very moody and tense, unfolding in much the same way as one of Tree63's better songs. This minor-key mood gives a good sense of the shadows and doubts that are slithering around, and it makes the shift in dynamics more noticeable when they burst into the chorus and the whole band is running at full gallop. The lyrics express a very basic concept - "So I'll trust You when I cannot see, and I'll trust You when the shadows hover over me", but the song feels a lot more complex than it is thanks to its musical density, and every player getting into the act. Malina offers some wordless but pleasant vocal work that really sticks out during the chorus - part of me wishes she'd get to sing lead on a few of these songs, because I really like that voice of hers. Once again, we have a bit of a break from traditional song structure when the band chooses to go to a more laid-back, acoustic-driven bridge and repeat that instead of returning to the chorus. Because of that, the song doesn't quite reach peak intensity, but it's still an easily learned song with a melody that is at once bright and moody.

Divine Invitation
We are all here to find
The place where our restless souls will be free
We were all made to see
Our hearts could not rest until found in Thee...
This song is where the Sigur Ros influence becomes a bit more noticeable. Malina leads off with some gentle notes from her Fender Rhodes keyboard, and Lenny's drumming is very soft, using toms instead of regular sticks to create a faintly tribal feel. The song gives me a picture of a person wandering through dunes of snow, and an almost inaudible voice calling out to that person through to cold, dry air. Eric's approach here is relatively subdued - he sticks to his lower register as he gently sings of the human heart's longing for God, infusing the lyric with a sense of destiny, that this longing is not a mistake, but a pull toward the destiny that we were created for. Sure enough, the wanderer begins to see light and warmth ahead as the song opens up with stronger percussion and distorted electric guitar playing that is simultaneously delicate and passionate. Eric jumps to falsetto for the final chorus, effectively finishing off one of the album's more delicate and memorable numbers.

Spirit Waltz
Your perfect words go further than, go further than tomorrow
And when my world shakes, You pull me through, You pull me through the storm...
It's pretty common these days for praise bands to have their share of simple, downbeat, acoustic songs, since the acoustic guitar is an easy instrument to learn and one of the most easily transportable ones. It's also common for modern rock bands to tack on a percussion-less acoustic song that sounds nothing like the rest of their stuff, as if needing to prove that they have a "sensitive" side. Instead of being cliché and putting such a song at the end, SLS puts it here, and they spice it up a bit by making it more than just another acoustic song. The song starts as a very slow and measured dance (played in 3/4, if you hadn't guessed that much from the title), and while percussion isn't a factor here, they manage to spice it up with some accordion (courtesy of Phil Madeira) and Malina's keyboards. Eric's lyrics remind me quite a bit of Third Day's simple praise song "Your Love Oh Lord", especially when he says that "Your strong embrace is wider than, is wider than the sky". A big part of the song's charm is actually contained in the vocal parts that don't have words - the high-pitched "aaah" that follows each line of the verse, and the subdued "oh-oh-oh"s that follow the chorus. The chorus itself recalls one of my favorite songs by Chasing Furies when Eric passionately sings "Jesus, my heart cannot break enough for Your love". He's basically saying that we have such an intense longing that we can't even fathom the depth of it - once again, the carefully chosen language is simple but effective, making many of these songs feel like infinitely deep pools of water. The song is taken over by a veritable snowstorm is it draws to a close and the gently dancing guitars and vocals are drowned out by the sound of a church organ and wintry bells filling the cavernous space, building to a thrilling crescendo and then very suddenly backing off and leaving cold silence behind. I'd almost expect another instrumental explosion at that point, but the band went for a non-obvious segue into the next song instead.

When I Search
Hear my heart that beats for You
I have no other cause...
The drums and guitars seem to kick in rather suddenly after two quiet songs, but it's a good change of pace, since too many slow songs together might dull the effect a bit. Musically speaking, this is by far the most radio-friendly song on the disc and it's no surprise that it was chosen as the first single. I like that the band is writing from a perspective of searching and not a perspective of having found, since too many CCM rock acts seem to write more from the perspective of already knowing the answers, and it can make it difficult to connect. Overall, though, I think they might have played it too safe for this one. While the guitars are going strong on the chorus and it's got an easy melody to sing along with, the song does feel a bit more routine and cliché than some of the other tracks that surround it.

Rains Pour Down
Jesus, dig deep within, like a plow to the Earth
You break the unsown ground so I learn to serve...
Now here's a great example of the musical mood matching up perfectly with the lyrics - this is something that SLS excels at even though their lyrics seem a bit simple at time. The concept of rain falling down and healing the barren land has been used many times over in Christian music, but this song doesn't hold back on the true intensity of longing for such a thing to happen. Malina and Lenny propel the song along with a wonderfully syncopated pairing of drums and light, tinkling piano - it's like a twisted reflection of Coldplay's "Clocks" (the song that any other song which uses descending piano triplets is forever doomed to be compared to). Eric does a very good job with the lyrical imagery on this song, describing his soul as a hidden room somewhere beneath the dry ground, awaiting excavation. The band has done an excellent job of breathing life into his composition as well, breaking free during the chorus with an intensity that is unrivaled in most of the other fast-paced songs on the album. I love the way that everyone pounds out that chorus, and once again, we've got some sweet high-pitched vocals that echo afterwards - when they sing "We long for You", the word "You" is heard at a higher-pitch, giving it an almost eerie sound. Due to the absence of a bridge, the song seems to end rather abruptly, but it's a sweet three minutes or so.

In the Burning
I cry from a world that demands my affection
I pray for the light that will guide my eyes...
My favorite track on the album might just be its most musically intense moment. Eric starts off with a low-key, repeating riff that utilizes an interesting bending technique on its last note, and he picks his way through the verses while Lenny's fast-paced drumming and John's dark, U2-styled bass playing (think one of the more desperate songs on The Joshua Tree such as "Exit") drive a song that trades the imagery of rain and snow for that of passionate fire. The band is doing a very good job of evoking their vertically-minded modern rock brethren in Delirious? and The Benjamin Gate here, taking what is a quiet and reflective chorus the first time around and echoing it with a much more desperate feel the second time around. This leads into a bass-driven bridge where, for a glorious moment, Malina takes the vocal lead, repeating the simple line "In the fire, I will find You". Eric begins to interject more spontaneous and fervent lines around his wife's smooth lead vocal - "I am so close, I am so weak, I am so strong, I am so wrapped up". After this point, the drums and guitars end up getting whipped into a frenzy that causes them to double in tempo and then fall away, leaving the song to sputter to a close in a flurry of percussion and electronic noise.

Weight of the World
Today everything was, everything is only
And yesterday everything was, everything is only from You...
Short and sweet, this one-minute, seventeen-second song is entirely based around Eric's voice and Malina's simple piano chords. The piano seems to echo, giving the feeling of being in a lonely room where it's easy for sounds to reverberate off of the walls and seem louder than they really are - it reminds me of The Benjamin Gate's "Hands". I like the way the chords progress towards the end, and it's an interesting and passionate little snippet of a song about how Christ, the very creator of time and space, gave all that He had to protect it, but the song's shortness kind of makes it a difficult one to notice with so much else going on during the course of the album.

Please
Here I fall, at Your feet
And my heart will lift its cries to be relieved
Of the things that keep me from You, Lord
Like several of the songs on the record, this one is actually a redo of one of their indie songs (though I believe this one was renamed from something else). Due to its unassuming, medium tempo and its rather dry drum-and-guitar structure, it's probably one of the less noticeable songs on the album - "Weight of the World" doesn't seem to work as well as a bridge between "In the Burning" and this song, just because the shift in moods doesn't quite work. Nevertheless, the beauty of this song is unveiled as it gets more involved. The sense of dry silence at the beginning is actually intentional, I think, because the song is about the fear of just that - a feeling that the quietness of God means that we are distant from Him. It's a song about knowing that we do not have to always feel God's nearness for it to be true, and the band does a beautiful job of adding little intricate touches farther in. Much like how Eric and Malina traded off vocals in the bridge of "In the Burning", Eric is trading off with Nick here, while Malina echoes Nick in the background. The three voices and Malina's beautiful bell sounds mesh together wonderfully, and I'd love to hear what would happen if they dared to write a song where all three of them broke off into separate vocal parts.

Better Is One Day
How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty
My soul longs and even faints for You...
Of course, you know this song. It's the only cover on the album, and while you might grimace at the thought of yet another take on Matt Redman's modern worship staple, I think that Matt Redman makes for a good mentor of sorts to a group like this, since his music does an adequate job of reminding the listener of the inherent "bigness" of who God is. The band has given this musically simple song a glistening sheen and an inventive, watery opening that doesn't give away what song it is right away. They're also playing it a little faster than the original, and while that wasn't quite working for me at first, I think it makes sense once the group arrives at the driving chorus. Instead of diluting the song by making it poppy and breezy like Rebecca St. James did, they went for a more grandiose approach, and I think that the music is appropriate to a song which seeks to communicate that one moment of stillness in God's presence is more valuable than a lifetime spend outside of it. I love the eventual comedown that leads into the quiet landscape of the album's final song.

I Fall
Spinning still, my head can't figure You out
The silence thickens in the thought of You
Your presence draws to me, revealing what I cannot define...
The Sigur Ros is probably most noticeable here, as the group distills the sound of one of their favorite bands into a delicate and ethereal ballad that doesn't quite play like the typical worship album closer. It structure is barely there at first, led by hushed strokes of electric guitar and bass. The chimes that Malina brings in during the chorus, as her husband gently sings "And I fall... in love... with You" give the song a bit of a misty feel. She's described this song as being a better fit for her vision of Heaven than "Sunday School streets of gold", and I have to say that I agree - there's something about a quiet, otherworldly peacefulness like this that speaks to the soul more than analogies of a bustling city could adequately convey. The song does reach a musical apex, bringing in the electrical guitars and drums for a very brief burst of energy during the bridge, which lasts for five, maybe ten seconds. But then it ends on a final whisper of a chorus, leaving barely audible noises that trail off into nothingness. And then, after a little bit of silence, three lonely piano chords punctuate the emptiness, and the album is done.

Something Like Silas definitely strikes me as a band with an artistic vision, and I'm glad that they've risen to the challenge of marrying their unique influences to a distinct focus on worship music. It's not an easy thing to do, and in some ways, one might argue that you're always going to sacrifice potential artistic points if you seek to write direct songs of praise. But I think SLS will find a happy medium more and more as they continue to stretch the boundaries. I just pray that they're given the time and space to slip away into their own little musical sphere and create music that communicates more of those intangible aspects of God that their words are hinting at. I listen to this album, and I hear so much potential for that, some of which they've already delivered on. As long as their label isn't too hungry for obvious singles, I think the group could have a captivating praise album ahead of that that's as captivating as Delirious?'s Glo or some of Iona's more spiritually direct moments - but, of course, without sounding exactly like either of those artists. SLS has their own path to carve out, I think, and I'm excited to see where the future takes them.

(Incidentally, I love the album art for this disc - the band is pictured as tiny specks walking amidst the huge, eerie propellers in the desert just outside of Palm Springs, California that are used to convert wind into energy. Those propellers are kind of a classic image of the otherworldly attempting to communicate with us - I'm pretty sure I've seen them in a movie at some point, and they also served as the motif for Petra's Unseen Power album. It's kind of funny to see the band in the desert when so much of their music makes me picture the snow, but anyway, it's great imagery, as are the strange, shadowy streamers that run through the pictures and liner notes. Only one question - is Malina talking on a cell phone in the back cover picture, or just brushing her hair out of her face? I can't tell.)

ALBUM WORTH:
Creation's Call $1.50
Words that You Say $1
Infinite $1.50
Divine Invitation $1.50
Spirit Waltz $1.50
When I Search $1
Rains Pour Down $2
In the Burning $2
Weight of the World $.50
Please $1
Better Is One Day $1
I Fall $1.50
TOTAL: $16

CONCLUSION: It's worth nearly the full price to check out a promising new band.

Band Members:
Eric Owyoung: Lead vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards
Malina Owyoung: Vocals, piano, keyboards, glockenspiel
Nick Maybury: Guitars, vocals
John Luzzi: Bass
Lenny Beh: Drums, percussion, programming

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying