Mike Mains & the Branches “Home”
I downloaded this album from Noise Trade for free because I felt like I hadn’t been on NT in a while and didn’t know how this would play out for me. Since I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, I decided that I’m going to kind of make an example out of this band—which is not at all a bad thing because if anything they should feel honored that I’m choosing to make an example out of them.
At one point in time, I feel like I typed that I would no longer review music if the vocals were about religion. This was not because of my religious beliefs by any means, but rather just because it’s not what I want to hear out of music. As an example, I love comic books but don’t want to hear a new shoegaze album about how the DC Universe is better than the Marvel Universe (Though, yes, I would have to listen to and review such a concept album because it is who I am and big props to anyone who decides to make it if it doesn’t already exist—I am far too busy to do it personally) But now what the Spider-Man was I going on about. Oh. Right. Religion.
I made a group on Facebook once that was intended for musicians to get together and talk about a similar subject. Whether or not that will ever happen remains to be seen, but one of the subjects I wanted to discuss (and may still attempt) was the idea of “Christian rock”. Christian rock seems to have taken on its own meaning in the sense that a band can sound like Christian rock even without actually being Christian rock in the lyrical sense. It’s become so much of a label that I think we forgot what Christian rock really means in terms of religion.
So let’s say that Band Y calls themselves Christian rock and they sing about Jesus and all that. Then does that mean if Band X does not label themselves as Christian rock and doesn’t have the sound or lyrics, it makes them a bunch of filthy heathens? And so I guess my point here is that religion transcends music and bands shouldn’t be labeled as such.
What I want to do though is I want to go one step further than this. Now that I think back to it, I feel like I decided to stop reviewing music that professed such ideals as being vegan or straight edge. This was done for the same reason why I suggest the entire music community stop singing about religion as well. Simply put: You isolate an entire section of your potential audience based solely on your lyrics.
Mike Mains & the Branches have a great sound. They’re a better version of The Lumineers with bands like Blue October and The All-American Rejects coming out in their sound. But a lot of people might not ever get to hear that sound because they’re turned off by the label of Christian rock.
Look, I’m not saying anyone has to tailor their lyrics to fit any person’s belief or value system. I think people should be allowed to sing about whatever they so choose. But for me personally, no matter what I believe in/enjoy/am, I just don’t want to hear about it in songs. Your lyrics should be something that the masses can relate to, not something that could potentially isolate them because they don’t believe in God, do drugs or eat meat.
So now this will be my last time writing about such matters because I doubt my plea will change anything. I just know that a line like “I didn’t die for you to live like this / I died for you to love” could be interpreted as the death of a family member such as a parent, whereas a song like “Beneath Water” makes such obvious references you can tell it’s about being baptized. Hey, I grew up Baptist and Catholic, who have differing views on baptism, so right there, you’re kind of isolating me in a way.
If nothing else, make your lyrics abstract. Leave something to the imagination. As an artist, use some creativity and leave room for the listener to interpret it as they see fit not as how you instruct them. Again, I’m not trying to censor you I am merely trying to help.
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