MP3 REVIEW: Common Folk “July 2013 Demo CD”

                This is a true story.   Well, all of my stories are true.  Unless they’re not.

                There was a time when I was downloading a lot of free music from Noise Trade.  I don’t go on Noise Trade anymore unless I get an email about a specific band putting out music that I like.   Of all the bands I’ve gone to Noise Trade to download free music from that I’d never heard before, none of them really panned out for me.

                Oh, and so what this has to do with Common Folk is that while I was in this Noise Trade zone at one time, I kept getting these bands that were singing about God.   It was the type of stuff that you’d think of when you’re this Christian teen who isn’t allowed to listen to Radio Band A because they’re the devil, but they can listen to the Christian version of the band that sounds exactly like them.

                I went on this rant.  I went on a rampage.  I vowed to never review music that sang about God again.  I went into full out “Keep your religion out of my music!” mode.  

                And then I posted an interview with Common Folk.

                Why?   Well, it boils down to something really simple for me.   There are bands out there that will sing “Love God because He loves you” and things of that sort in their lyrics, but what about the bands that don’t sing that?   Does that mean they don’t believe in God?  What if they do believe in God, but it’s just not something they choose to sing about?

                I’m not going back on my original statement.  I still whole heartedly believe there exists music that can be too preachy.   But Common Folk is not amongst them.   From the first song, which tells a story about a man and his father, you could really read into these things however you want.  I mean, yeah, it’s kind of obvious what the lyrics are about, but at least they’re not singing “Love God or you’re going to Hell” or something like that.

                What I’m trying to say is that for me to write off all music about religion was a mistake.  Posting that Common Folk interview was a sign of that.  And while there are Christian bands that choose to sing about how you’re a heathen and are probably go to Hell, there are somewhat less offensive ones.

                Common Folk is a folk punk duo that sings about a variety of topics and one of them happens to be Bible related.   But I don’t find it anymore strange or unnatural than when someone like Sledding With Tigers sings about California or Valentine’s Day.