Switchfoot "Fading West" Album Review

Aptly compared to C. S. Lewis, Switchfoot may not always mention Jesus by name in every song, but the spiritual underpinnings in each of their song is surging. Just like the famed British apologist, the songs of can relate to the most obtuse pagan; yet, when given further rumination the same lyrics can make its way under our skin awakening us to a deeper spiritual reality. Donning a West Coast surfers look with their athletic agility that is able to bend their musical language for the average person on the street, members of Switchfoot are some of the most potent evangelists incognito. This why over the years, Switchfoot is one of the few acts to have overwhelming success on both the pop and the Christian charts with songs such as "Meant to Live," "Dare You to Move" and "Your Love is a Song." As for this current effort "Fading West," Switchfoot's modus operandi is a little out of the box too. This time they have packed up their bags, travelled across the globe to various surfing spots and they have allowed the wide open beaches to be their muse.

In an effort to capture the vastness of the beaches they have had visited while making this record, the single "Love Alone is Worth the Fight" is an atmospheric dance of nature's sounds and post-grunge rock. In a milieu of individualism, "Love Alone is Worth the Fight" makes an urgent plea for sacrificial and courageous love. Lead singer Jon Foreman is at his best with the searching "Who We Are." Here the voices of children, Chad Butler's rhythmic drumming and the song's melodic piling make this one of the band's strongest sing-alongs in years. Despite banging on the same tried and true carpe diem type of a message, "When We Come Alive" is redeemed by the internal drama the song creates. Though lyrically the song charters no new ground, it's the excitement that the guys create that sells the song. Listen especially to how the music stops at the bridge and how Jon's voice drops an octave before he sings emphatically, "We are fire, you and I."

On an album that is mostly upbeat, "The World That You Want" is a much welcomed recess. Switchfoot nary lets a moment get by without grabbing out attention with some of the most poetically searching words: "The world feels so malicious, with all our hits and misses, feels like we're in the business of rust. It's when I stop to listen, all the moments I've been missing, I finally hear a voice I can trust." Those lines by themselves are enough to provide us with food for thought for days to chew upon. More heavy weight moments come with the somehow morose "Slipping Away." The issue of death today is what pornography used to be a century ago; it's an issue no one talks about, yet it's something we all think about one time or another. Switchfoot deals with the issue so grippingly that it will get non-Christians to open up to talk more about it.

Perhaps no song has piqued the attention of fans as much as "Ba55." Starting out as a joke but it finally stuck is its unusually titled "Ba55." Nevertheless, the song speaks about the purifying nature of trials over a groovy dance tune that certainly makes it a standout cut on this record. While "Saltwater Heart" possesses a child-like naiveté with lots of three dimensional painterly lines such as: "Now it's an abstract thought, but I've been thinking nonstop about the fact that my body's made most out of raindrops, with a salt water heart." On the whole, don't let the waves, the surf boards, and their bathers fool you. This isn't just a light weighted affair of a record that just taxis for a good time. Rather, beneath the cool exterior, these songs deal with issues so dear to the Gospel and if you listen close enough, this is a record that might even change your life.

 

 

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