This past Wednesday, Calvin College brought in a band called Fiction Family. This band contains a combination of lead singers from Switchfoot and Nickel Creek; John Foreman and Sean Watkins respectively. Using the Ladies Literary Club to create a small, warm feel, this acoustic band produced a fun, entertaining night. With this being only the bands second time performing in concert, it brought with it a sense of relaxing and comfort, which greatly added to the night.
Music to me is one of my passions, and I enjoy greatly the fun of listening and enjoying, as well as playing and experimenting. When it comes to this particular band, although they are not under a Christian label, lyrically there is definitely a connection between them and their passion to the kingdom of God. This is specifically evident in the words sung by John Foreman when he uses scriptural text and intertwines it into songs. In saying this there is no doubt that evil has corrupted this world even through this band. There songs constantly talk about heartbreak pain and suffering through broken relationships, and these are evident to be ideas and situations that are effected by the fall and sin.
The good news is that I believe that there is a better way to live and that it has been demonstrated. In Deuteronomy 30, Jesus says “Choose Life” and to me that is the main goal of these fun entertainers. The Kingdom of God was evident in this concert as well. First of all the passion they showed in their music, and for their music was evident as a viewer. You can tell if an artist is faking it, and when it came to this band the emotion that was drawn out through song was evidently presented to make the lyrics believable. Although this band did not go about spoon-feeding the message of God in their songs, the ideas that poked through were ones of love, and hope; even in this world of brokenness.
The words of imagination and community work well in this concert setting. As the band played there was no way knowing what songs they were going to perform because of the fact that they have not released record as of yet. This created an environment where you could pull out a lot from the music and make it your own because of the fact that it was the first time to listen and enjoy it. This outing to the Literary club also created a warm feel of community by the physical size of the convert hall but also the laid back, relaxed feel of the performers that certainly rubbed off on the audience.
This bands passion and desire to create music not only to enjoy but to instead make you think about the empire and its effects on you makes it worthwhile to go and see. This new team started off with a bang, and I am sure that they are going to strive and succeed in making new music that focuses on the lyrics and links those lyrics to the suffering and brokenness that many people experience in this world today. This band cares about the relationships that build when the connection between them and their audience is made and I think that is key in creating a world that can place the Kingdom of God in front of the empire.
Fiction family was a very inspiring concert. Since Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins both have their larger main projects, the fact that they have this project shows that they are doing it for the simple fact that they love music and want to pursue every aspect of their creativity. The music is saturated in raw emotion, and as you listen to it, you can almost feel what they're singing about. You can feel the emotions they're trying to express.
ReplyDeleteTheir smaller audiences when combined also seems to demonstrate that they're just doing this side project for the pure enjoyment of it. It's nice to hear both of them experimenting in a different genre.
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