10 November 2009 3 Comments

If you read this blog at all (a strange statement: to have got this far you must be reading. Ok- I’ll stop there and get my coat…) you will know that I love music. I am like a child in a shop with a lot of things that children like………sorry I’m fresh out of analogies; I was expecting a delivery yesterday but they got stuck behind a lorry load of hyperboles as big as an oil tanker.

A while back I read a review of a band called ‘The Mountain Goats’ that I had never heard of. They had a new CD out called ‘The Life of the World to Come’.

Turns out that every track title was a biblical verse: viz the opener is ‘1 Samuel 15:23′, 2nd track is ‘Psalm 40:2′ (the 2nd track I have on that Psalm- the other being ‘40′ by the inevitable U2), right down to the last track which has the longer title ‘Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace’. I was intrigued- as far as I knew the group had no pretensions to Christianity.

I was even more intrigued, nay overwhelmingly overjoyed (I’m 43: I don’t get out much) when I managed to find a promo copy for £2.50.

Completely and utterly fantastic. I think I have a new contender for an entry into my personal top 10 cds of all time. The music I love- new Americana works for me most times. The words sound like they have been written by someone with a PhD in creative writing. I love the way the group have interacted with scripture- allusively and often obliquely; wishing that many Christians took so much time to handle, touch and taste and let it soak in.

Current personal faves: Matthew 25:21 – go read the passage and listen to a wonderfully written piece about a friend who burned bright dying of cancer (Ok- I don’t belive it is possible to write a good happy song) and Deuteronomy 2:10; an obscure verse , but a lovely song of being the last of your kind.

Achingly beautiful. But don’t waste your time on reading blogs; listen to it- better still buy it or search out the rest of their oeuvre…