This is my (Dave's) first blog entry ever so go easy on me. I originally thought my first blog post would be about being newly married, but another topic came to mind, so I'm writing about that instead. The inspiration came from my friend Phil's band Mosquito Fleet. They are college and post-college age and hail from Indiana Wesleyan University. They released a new EP the other day and while I have listened to it a few times since downloading it, today was the first time I listened to the lyrics and embraced what they had to say. This is kind of a review and kind of a commentary on why these songs hit me so hard today and why you should support these guys.
Noah. The beginning of the song is consistent with some of their older stuff and is a great way to begin the album. While I didn't pay attention to the lyrics the first 5 times I heard it; I did pay attention today and they are beautiful. The song is about the injustice in our sinful world. The lyrics “Is it better to all have drowned? Is it better to all have drowned than to live in this wicked town?” just sat on my soul during the song. This world is screwed up and without God and His plan of salvation there is no hope. I just finished a creative writing class and we had to write on some tough issues such as hunger, AIDS, child prostitution and many other subjects. This class had a greater effect on me than I though, I see a need for Christians to step out and help those in need and while a lot do, I for one do not and am feeling convicted to do so. This song just resonated with the feelings I have been having while in this class and just encouraged me to find a way to serve those in need and hopefully encourage others to help.
Elizabeth (Swings & Cloves). This is the title track of the EP. The version I am writing about is the acoustic bonus track.. This love song has the right amount of cheesiness and deep lyrics. I recently got married, as I mentioned before. Through the process of dating, engagement, premarital counseling and finally marriage I have seen the beauty in God's perfect plan for marriage. In everyone's marriage you take two broken people and form one broken couple. With Jesus at the center of that marriage you begin to understand that nothing has changed and you are still that broken couple but with the perfection of Jesus anchored in the relationship the marriage is good and fruitful to you individually, as a couple, for those around us, for the world and for the Kingdom of God. That is what I took away from the deep part of the song. The cheesy part is great too. The description of swings and cloves and a warm evening with the love of my life creates wonderful imagery in my mind and it makes me smile.
The pumped up version with the whole band is great too, I still prefer the acoustic version because it is a love song and I am a romantic at heart.
Everything's Different. I think the guys count to 4 in at least 1 song per album. The song is almost 9 minutes long which is a little long for me but the guys use the time to showcase their talent and at the end it seems like a 5 minute song which is not a shot at them, but a compliment. Everyone that has grown up and moved on in life will resonate with this song. As a freshman in college you think you are going to graduate and change the world. Then you graduate and get a job in Corporate America and realize “Everything's Different.” I myself just started college but when I was 18, I thought I was going to change the face of sales forever. It isn't to say that the different outcome of your life is a bad thing; in many cases it is a great thing - following God's will rather than my own. The guys in the band are at this age and I'm sure this is very real for a lot of them so I am glad they wrote a song about it and used it as a chance to show off some of their “Indie” stuff.
Come Thou Fount of Ev'ry Blessing. One of my favorite hymns and I am really glad the guys chose to put this on their album. I always enjoy a rocked-out version of hymns. The guys went through the hymn with their own take on it musically and when all of the verses are all completed they repeat “Here's my heart Lord” and then “Prone to Wander” to make a wonderful round 12 times (I think the term is “round” this is what I remember from 2nd grade music theory AKA chorus). As I listened to those words wash over me I was overwhelmed with what the Gospel has done for those that believe in Jesus. This song is great and the guys really captured the essence of being lost and wandering away from God and our inability to live without His grace. Then to see the Grace of God wash our sins away and give our lives to Christ. The guys didn't have to do much here, the lyrics have been wonderful since they were written in 1757. I did really appreciate the musical take they had on it and this is my favorite song on the album followed closely by “Noah.”
I have been looking for a topic to write on and this album struck a cord in my heart today so Mosquito Fleet gets the honors of my first blog post. If you have not yet downloaded their EP Swings & Cloves you can get it tonight for FREE but you only have until MIDNIGHT because that is when the “name your own price” sale ends. Sorry I wasn't able to give you more time to get this for free but I wasn't inspired until today. Look on the bright side, you can buy it tomorrow to help these guys in their trans-formative time in life.
Here are their links:
http://mosquitofleet.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/mosquitofleet
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