Stockholm Syndrome

Ok, I’ve had a chance to listen to the album in full and watch the documentary. The doc was fun, but not particularly informative about any ‘thesis’ statement in SS.

The music was fantastic. I think this is the most creative and stylistically diverse album DW has ever done. I miss the guitar a bit though, and I wish he’d have let Sandra McCracken duet on a couple of tracks. Overall, very solid effort and better than the last album.

Topically, it is a bit more of a mixed bag. I didn’t really notice a unifying theme on first listen – other than being confrontational. I can see why TMH says, “It’s law, law, law.” This is just the other side of the law coin than evangelicals in the US are familiar with hearing. With that in mind, there is a purpose to be served in reminding that there are other things to ‘do’ and ‘care’ about than the typical culture war fare. At other times, he suggests that some of the things we think we need to do, like shun homosexuals, is just wrong-headed.

What he doesn’t do, (as has been mentioned here already) is come back around and say, “The Gospel is for everyone, and nobody is ‘too bad’ or too far gone for the hope of redemption through Christ Jesus.” There is no song like, “The Church” or “Beloved” on this one. So, maybe that is why it comes off so heavy-handed. It almost crosses the line from saying, “I’m screwed up morally in some of the very same ways you are,” to finger pointing in the 3rd person.

The question remains, did he need to do that? When you consider this is the same guy who made “Mockingbird” and “She Must & Shall Go Free” he doesn’t need to retread if he wants to hit hard in a borderline legalistic way for one album. The problem is, potentially, that someone unfamiliar with DW’s work will listen this because of all the controversy and get the wrong impression of where DW is coming from. It is kind of like the fear that someone would only have read Hebrews Chapter 6 without knowing there is a John chapter 3. Hebrews 6 is just as important as John 3, but you need both to get balance. So, I guess I’m saying that SS is a fantastic album despite lacking thematic balance.

I’m gonna listen to it a lot more because I do think it is a very good artistic statement, I just don’t know if it can be properly digested apart from a contextual understanding of DW’s previous material.