In light of my previous post lamenting the state of contemporary Christian music, I thought it best to offer an alternative. This post will hopefully be the first of multiple to show different Christian artists that I believe are using their gifts to create new and unique sounds and worshipping God through that creativity.
So, first up: Josh Garrels.
For those of you that haven’t heard of Josh Garrels, you probably aren’t spending a whole lot of time with me. I absolutely love his music, and generally spend a large majority of my free time sharing his music with others.
I lamented in my previous post because I felt that there was not enough creativity in the modern Christian music world. The good news is that Garrels carries creativity in spades. His music spans multiple different genres, and his lyrical writing is fantastic too. Check out the opening line to his song SISU (which is Finnish for ‘stubborn guts’ or ‘grit’) off of his 2006 album, Over Oceans.
By the word and command, mortal man can stand, Son of Man is the manna manifest In the flesh and the blood, and the bones and the rocks, in the valley of the dead The dry bones are gonna walk and talk
Already, it is a much more complex lyric than something you’d find in most contemporary Christian music.
Garrels’ music is so filled with Biblical imagery it’s practically dripping from the weight of the theology woven into the lyrics.
Let’s talk about references for a second. The reference to manna is noteworthy in itself (I searched K-Love’s lyric library. As of November 16, 2019, no reference to the word “manna”). “Dry bones” is also an explicit reference to the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37.
Garrels’ music is so filled with Biblical imagery it’s practically dripping from the weight of the theology woven into the lyrics. His songs evoke all the books of the Bible. References to well-known stories such as Daniel appear (“though they may surround us like lions”) as often as less known ones (Numbers 22 – “if He can bring the truth through the mouth of a mule…”)
Let’s take, for instance, his song “Revelator” off of his 2011 album Love and War and The Sea In Between. Aside from its ethereal and unique sound, the song pulls almost all of its lyrics straight out of images from the book of Revelation (after which it is named, a revelator being someone who reveals the will of God), a practice which, while prevalent, does not often go to the depth Garrels does.
Examine the parallels between Garrels and Revelation:
JOSH GARRELS
Had a dream I was alone
A vast expanse of complete unknown
Sea of glass so clear it shown,
like gold
Then a voice like thunder clapped
As a dead man, I collapsed
“I am the first, I am the last”
Now rise, my son
Then behold 10,000 kings
And every creature worshipping
Every eye was on one thing
One man
He’s like a lion, like a lamb
As though slain he holds the plan
To make war and peace with man
And reign on earth
REVELATION
Revelation 4:6 – “…and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.”
It also parallels the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21:18 – “The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”
Rev. 6:1 – “I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, ‘Come!'”
Rev. 1:17 – “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last,'”
Rev. 5:11 – “… I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,”
Rev. 5:5–6 – “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,’… I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain…”
All of this is just a small sampling of the lyrics Garrels is able to produce. I highly recommend listening to more of his songs to see how much Scripture plays a role in his writing. If you want more Revelation-based songs, check out his song YHWH.
Poetically, Garrels’ writing is also impressive for another reason: assonance. If you don’t know what assonance is, it is a repeated vowel sound used within a phrase. (The phrase Stan was banned in advance because of a bad romance in France repeats the “a” sound. That sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it illustrates the point) It’s often used in poetry as a way to make a line or stanza really hit home. Phrases with lots of assonance tend to be harder to write, so they are more impressive in that sense, and the repeated sounds help to drill the line into the listener’s ears. With that in mind, look at Garrels’ use of the repeated ‘a’ vowel sound in that opening line of ‘SISU’:
By the word and command, mortal man can stand, Son of Man is the manna manifest
If you want another example of Josh’s, it only took me a couple of minutes to layout this example of assonance from a verse in his song “Freedom.” Each highlight color is a different repeated vowel sound. Try saying the lines out loud to get a feel for the different vowels.
See the assonance use? It’s something that you don’t really think about until it is brought to your attention, but once you notice it, it’s hard not to see it in other songs. And Garrels does it amazingly.
Another reason I’m a fan of Josh Garrels is the fact that his albums never sound the same as the previous one. He doesn’t produce the same sound and style every time, even though that would likely help him with record sales. His style ranges from his earlier hip-hop/reggae-esque sound to acoustic singer-songwriter vibes, to electronic/funk soundscapes. Here’s a sampling:
If you haven’t heard of Josh Garrels, I highly, highly recommend listening to his stuff. The man is an absolute poet who is using the creativity that God has given him to fully express the wonder that our faith can bring us.
If you have Spotify, check out his page. Otherwise, here’s his YouTube channel where he also posts his music. You can get his music anywhere music is sold, or from his Bandcamp site.
Happy listening, folks.
Want to read more about Christian Creatives? Click on this tag.
Nick Rodrigues
Thank you for your insight. Especially about Revelator’s direct connection to scripture, because I was googling that, thinking that most of the verses came from Revelation, and I was curious how much of the lyrics were Josh’s words and how much were Revelation. Also, thank you for pointing out the song SISU, because I love Josh Garrel’s music and have listened to Chrysaline, Home, Love and War and the Sea in Between in their entirety. I haven’t listened to a lot of his older music yet. I thought SISU was interesting and impressive lyrically, with a great chorus. So thanks again for your insight. God bless you.