Listen:
http://www.myspace.com/bodiesofwater (really, though, the 96kbps myspace tracks do no justice to their harmony and instrumentation.)
Other:
http://www.bodiesofwater.netThe Bodies of Water are a quartet from Los Angeles, CA. They are made up of two men (David & Kyle) and two women (Jessie & Meredith). They play loud, intricate songs and sing very emphatically, usually all at once. They draw from a number of disparate traditions, combining the metaphysical intensity of gospel, the primitive gusto of punk rock, the earnest idiosyncracy of american folk, the sonic inclusiveness of tropicalia, the planned jamming of prog, and the sincere melodrama of musical theatre.I stumbled across their latest album, A Certain Feeling , on a torrent site and downloaded it at random. It's fantastic. Then, come to find out, they're all Christians. I was pretty shocked. I'd put them right up there with Danielson and Sufjan with their 'Christians but not Christian band that plays indie music that's awesome enough to make your head asplode' titles.
I downloaded their earlier album, Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink, and am listening to it for the first time now. It's a bit more wild and less polished than A Certain Feeling, but still really really good IMO.
Both albums are on eMusic, if any of you have subscriptions there, also on iTunes plus.
God knows that, over the years, a good deal of piffle has been committed to vinyl, disc and digital bit in the name of “Christian rock.” For every denominationally-neutral deep thinker such as Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan or kooky, wide-eyed quester like the Danielson Famile, we’ve also witnessed God-centric narrowcasters such as Creed attempting to alter the brainwaves of the unenlightened through the “gift” of their music. It’s enough to give the genre a bad name — a notion with which Bodies of Water bandleader David Metcalf wholly agrees.
“The four core members [of Bodies of Water] are Christians,” Metcalf explains one recent afternoon from his home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park, where he lives with his wife Meredith, who is also the band's keyboardist. “But we’re not really in the Christian music scene at all — not part of that subculture. Three quarters of the band grew up in an evangelical Christian tradition, and not to really get into it, but we take issue with some of the insularity, especially the politics associated with it.” Metcalf’s two dogs bark excitedly in the background as he finishes his thought. “I don’t really think it has a lot to do with our music, either; it’s not like we came up playing churches or only to Christian audiences. If anything, our songs deal with faith in a more mystical way. The references could just as easily be Jewish, you know?”
Given his band’s “Godspell meets Elephant Six” musical underpinnings, it’s easy to understand why Metcalf takes pains to create some distance between Bodies of Water and a Christian audience that's typically less accepting of willful eccentricity. While the group’s debut, Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink (independently released in 2007 but re-released nationally through Secretly Canadian last month), owes a major debt to the American gospel tradition and certainly bears the hallmarks of young people on a journey of the soul, it’s a record aimed squarely at the Williamsburg set — an album of shock-inducing sweets for the ears, drizzled onto a thick chorus of vocals and multi-part drums, keys and guitars.
Sure, earnestly-delivered lines such as “We are co-resistors, all resisting Satan’s fingers,” “I turned my face from God” and “Then He spoke and the locusts came” pop out of the mix from time to time, but they’re accompanied by theatrical, lushly-orchestrated arrangements that call to mind a less-messianic Polyphonic Spree or a home-schooled Arcade Fire. The band’s four core members are surrounded by a loosely-assembled volunteer army of contributors, expanding their ranks to ten-plus in a live setting as they meticulously craft the soundtrack for the next generation of true believers — even if those beliefs aren’t articulated in the form of a hard-wired manifesto.
“You literally have to condescend to be didactic, and none of us feel like we’re in that place at all,” Metcalf adds. “We just see ourselves making music. I’d be worried if it came across like I knew what the deal was with the world.”
Along these lines, the band’s next album — still untitled, but already recorded and due out in July — takes the path less traveled. The group opted to record it in the Metcalfs' home using a less-constructed, more jam-oriented compositional method than the one employed on their debut, which essentially featured songs Metcalf composed and then taught the band. “When we started, I’d write all the songs and tell everyone what to play,” Metcalf confirms. “On this one, I still have the germs of the basic ideas for the songs, but it’s become more collaborative, with everyone coming up with their own parts and helping to work out the transitions between the various sections. The ideas I bring aren’t as concrete anymore; we have to work together to figure it all out. It’s a bit more free-floating.”
This approach may sound counterintuitive given the highly-architected, if notably joyous, veneer of the debut, but has nevertheless proven inspiring to the band as they’ve progressed. The change in venue hasn’t hurt, either. “The guy recording [this album] had a proper studio but didn’t get his permits, so we’re basically using a portable solution,” Metcalf laughs. “We’ve turned the house into a studio — one of the bedrooms has all our gear, the drums are in the living room, the bass amp is in the kitchen, the guitar amp is in the bedroom.”
This “everything but the kitchen sink” approach seems well-suited to Metcalf and his group of like-minded co-conspirators, whose mystically-minded music is only becoming more sophisticated and complex as it evolves.
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http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2008_02-utr-bodies-of-water.htmlApparently, all those Christians are right: God really does work in mysterious ways. This became clear to me after I listened to the first track off Bodies of Water's debut LP, Eyes Will Pop & Ears Will Blink. Although not a Christian band by any means, Bodies of Water's faith is apparent not only in their lyrics, but also in the music. With four-part harmonies that often sound like a full cathedral full of voices, Bodies of Water make sweeping pop music littered with an abundance of strings and bombastic horns.
With two guys, two girls and an omnipotent being, this Los Angeles-based foursome has a lineup similar to an old ABC favorite. Just like the pizza place serves as the background for the wacky life of those four twentysomethings, it is God who serves as the backdrop for Bodies of Water. Each song ascends to a higher realm as guitars crescendo and voices soar. Instead of sounding like a sum of their influences, which range from gospel to punk and theater to pop, Bodies of Water filter these varied influences through the majestic trope of church music.
Standout track "These Are the Eyes" begins with marching drums, bleating horns and chanted vocals that eventually slow down into gently strummed acoustic guitar before erupting into lovely call and response between male and female. In yet another turn, horns are added to the mix and the guitars speeds up, testing just how fast they can take it, before erupting into chants of "These are my eyes, these are the eyes of my eyes." It's an absolutely "indie-liscious" (thank you) pop song that challenges how many mood and tempo changes a song should have.
Having spent countless hours of my childhood trying to forget church songs, listening to a Christian-inspired band that sometimes resembles church music doesn't sound something I'd like to do. But where church music is boring and formulaic, Bodies of Water are nothing of the sort. Each song changes direction without notice. Vocals flutter in and out of the mix, trumpets flare and then disappear into quiet, and drums pounce vibrantly before settling into a soothing beat.
"It Moves" not only serves as an example of what makes Bodies of Water great, but also what makes this album occasionally drag. The song begins with a slow, rhythmic pounding of drums and eerie chanting, and by the time a warbly guitar is added to the mix, you're already in a trance. This is where Bodies of Water run into problems. Instead of writing lyrics, they're content to ooh and ahh their way through many songs. Don't get me wrong; I like oohs and ahhs as much as the next guy, but eventually I want to hear real words. However, when the song comes out of its psychedelic trance and the vocals return, the result is simply stunning.
Another track that deserves mention is "Doves Circled the Sky." Again utilizing the ages old call-and-response patter, "Doves Circled the Sky" contains one of the catchiest and most beautiful choruses I've heard in years. With twinkling piano and swirling violins, the song reaches levels not attained by most pop bands, but like many other Bodies of Water songs, oohs and ahhs take over the main stage.
In somewhat of a coincidence, or divine plan by God to reform me of my heathen ways and to help direct me to the land of milk and honey by conniving with PR writers and website editors, one quarter of all CDs I've reviewed for Playback have been by Christian-influenced bands. This may turn off some critics, but as long as they continue to be as inspiring as Eyes Will Pop & Ears Will Blink, send me all the Christian-influenced pop you've got. A- | Mike Tangaro
RIYL: The Rosebuds, Danielson, Arcade Fire
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http://www.playbackstl.com/content/view/6456/157/
