Shining a Light on Exceptional Christian Music

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Christopher Keene, along with drummer Jordan Mallory, are the heart and soul of probably the most underrated band on the Tooth and Nail label.  Their landmark first album, Love Is For The Rich, might have benefited from more publicity, but Surrogate are ambitious and talented enough to make a name for themselves. Ever so nimbly, they avoided the dreaded “sophomore slump” with a fantastic collection of songs here with Popular Mechanics (Yes, they do sing about science, too!).  Though not moving away from their established folky, guitar driven, indie-pop-rock sound, they push the envelope with diverse instrumentation and experimental melodies, gobs and gobs of charm…and enough off- the- wall lyrical cleverness to make you think…but not too much, mind you.

The mood is set by the album’s first song ‘Surprise’ with its extended intro and use of strings, bells, a little Rhodes here, and organ there, and melodic line to make you smile.

‘Exercise Machines’ is by far the quirkiest track with a funny idea: “What if we all could use our exercise machines to create electricity? … Instead of sooty clouds over our cities we’d have body odor smog to fill our lungs; our skies would be the envy of everyone.” There are some awkward moments with some un-singable words and phrases, but it works well.

The fantastic ‘Love Is For The Rich’ (I see what they did there!), holds lots of great musical ideas: pizzicato strings, distorted bass, lax drum fills behind lazy waltz-like guitars, horn parts reminiscent of the best Shaded Red songs.  The rhythm, tone, and melody of this song are so good, one might swear that this is some lost classic, even a cover of a forgotten Monkees or Beatles ballad.  But for some reason, the singer sounds like he just doesn’t care about the words.  It’s as if Keene is begrudgingly doing a friend a favor by singing on this song.  As the music ebbs and flows and swirls to dizzying heights around him, he shrugs it off like he’s got something better to do with his time.  Shouldn’t there be a difference in his inflection when he jokes in ‘Exercise Machines’:  “you can’t watch Friends until you’ve run a mile”, and when he should be crying in ‘Cynicism’: “Nobody loves you like I love you!”?

Probably the highlight of the album, musically, is the title track.  A great melody sticks in the mind for hours on end, and the nonchalant singing works rather well here as the drums and melody plod along behind it.  “All I see is a blond hair short skirt demographic giving me the eye” he laments, knowing he can’t have “it” and has to keep on the straight and narrow. But what is that exactly? Is this all meaningless?  Everyone is shouting at the other side of the aisle simply because it’s the other side.  Electronic beeps and boops and reverse guitar all add to the idea that this guy is slightly confused and only knows what he’s always known: “you’ve got guns, but we’ve got music.”

“You be the water, I’ll be the wine. Watch as Jesus turns you into me.”   A nice slow acoustic number, ‘The Devils Gets What He Wants (Sometimes)’ finishes off the album prettily and poetically.   The singer again lackadaisically sings to someone that did something with him or to him once (maybe?) probably.  It’s more than ambiguous and doesn’t really tell us much.  This is where Popular Mechanics falls just a little bit short.

As the album closes out our narrator has entertained us with some of his problems, those that live inside and those he sees, whether they be emotional, physical, social or just plain funny.  He is many times confused and warns the listener not to follow in his regretful footsteps.  However, is there a solution?  Or is it all just hopelessly confusing?  If money, friends, success, even science and exercise machines can’t save us, what can?  And perhaps it is simply a quirk of Chris Keene’s vocal style, but the almost unemotional way he sings to us amplifies the confusion of it all.  He’s looking around at the world and into himself, but he is simply observing; a scientist, collecting data and reporting the facts, nothing more.  Offering a solution is not the goal of this record; rather, Keene has offered us some food for thought.  Challenging lyrics point to learning from mistakes: “Playing piano and falling down stairs, you’re going to know the bottom once you’re there. Time of my life but twenty years clean, come on learn from my mistakes just like me.”

By all means enjoy the absolutely wonderful music and arrangements on this record!  Sonically, it is almost a masterpiece.  Every little pluck of a string or fuzzed out guitar effect fits together perfectly.  This may very well be the defining moment in Surrogate’s (hopefully) long career.  As fun and enjoyable as the music is, there’s just enough melancholy to make you sit back and try to figure out what’s going on around us.  Not a horrible thought to entertain, and if it’s a little too much to comprehend, no worries:

“We’re all going to float off into space, laughing the night away!”

Sounds similar to: Built To Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, The High Dials

Written by: Stephen Berry