On Songs & Albums

A collection of 493 posts

Music Reviews

Arcade Fire Now

Arcade Fire's latest is lighter and more streamlined — the most danceable thing that they've done. They're making a whole career out of variations on "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

Music Reviews

Jesca Hoop's faith frustrations

Perhaps you've been around long enough to remember when, in the late '80s, Leslie Phillips released an album called The Turning. It was a life-changing experience for me, hearing her bravely sing about how she couldn't reconcile her faith-born questions with the judgmental certainties of

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings of 2016: The Top Ten (Post 3 of 3)

And so we've come to the final list: my top ten favorite recordings of 2016. (If you want to read the list that leads up to the Top Ten, well... here's Part One and here's Part Two.) I've recorded short videos that

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings of 2016 (Post 2 of 3)

This year, difficult circumstances at home and work — and, let's face it, all across America — delayed my annual Favorite Music marathon. I know, I know... you've all been sitting there, postponing meals and sleep and self-care, just waiting for this to be published. Well, here it

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings of 2016 (Post 1 of 3)

I've been publishing lists of my favorite albums annually since I was eleven years old. In the early days, I published them in little magazines that I wrote for an audience of one. Today, I offer them to you as treasure maps. You're invited to explore.

Journal

Simon says

Until its release next week, you can stream the new Paul Simon album Stranger to Stranger at NPR's First Listen, and it is well worth a listen. Simon's been hinting that he might take a long hiatus from songwriting, and I hope that isn't

Journal

Bob Dylan — from faith to faith

He's 75. And I'm grateful for him.

Journal

Bono. Eugene. The Psalms.

This post has been amended for the sake of clarification. If you read Version One and were offended, I ask you to read Version Two closely. Thank you! • Eugene Peterson, author of The Pastor and sometimes-celebrated/sometimes-criticized translator of The Message, is — in my humble opinion — a national treasure. I

Music Reviews

Observing Lent with Lucinda Williams

You’ve probably heard that if you listen to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz, it’ll seem like they were meant to go together. Their profound synchronicity just seems too specific to be coincidental. That’s how I felt a

On Songs & Albums

Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Maria McKee cover Blind Willie Johnson

Well, this is cool! Howl & Echoes has determined my soundtrack for today: A new album paying tribute to Blind Willie Johnson is about to be released, including covers of his blues tracks by Tom Waits, Sinead O’Connor, Lucinda Williams and more. That "more" happens to include

On Songs & Albums

The Cure, New Order, Bruce Springsteen... reimagined.

Congratulations to Cameron Dezen Hammon on the release of Words Don't Bleed. Cameron's a gifted writer. I had the honor and privilege of workshopping some of her evocative prose in Seattle Pacific University's MFA in Creative Writing program, under the direction of great writers

Music Reviews

First great rock band record of 2016

Put aside for a moment that the getaway-car rush of guitars in the song you’re about to hear sounds familiar; soon enough, I’m going to argue that the resemblance of Shearwater’s “Pale Kings” to another arena-rock anthem is appropriate, perhaps even deliberate. But let that go for

On Songs & Albums

Turn It Up: Mavis Staples, PJ Harvey, and more

Due to the demands of recent deadlines, an annual writers retreat, and an illness, I've fallen behind on some things... including my music column "Listening Closer." But that will return next week with a focus on new music by Shearwater. That doesn't mean I

On Songs & Albums

Doug Dalrymple's David Bowie Dream

My friend Doug Dalrymple posted this for his friends on Facebook today. I asked permission to share this: I was living on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle with [my friends] Jonathan and Wayne, circa 1996-97. We had been listening to Bowie’s classic ‘70s albums nonstop for days when a

On Songs & Albums

The song that meant the most to me in 2015

The song that meant the most to me in 2015 took a long time to finally get my attention and put down roots in my heart. Here is that story... followed by the stories of Looking Closer readers about the songs that meant the most to them last year. And

On Songs & Albums

Hero

Before I turned out the light last night, I was listening to David Bowie and reading about his extraordinary new album, Blackstar, trying to figure out how to scratch the surface of its complexity in a review. I fell asleep thinking about it. Then I woke up and saw the

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings: 2015 — Part Two

Sufjan Stevens, Kendrick Lamar, Torres, Courtney Barnett... and many, many more make up my Favorite Recordings of 2015 countdown. Listen to your favorites and make some new discoveries.

Journal

Looking Closer's New Year's Party

Start your 2016 with some inspiration. Turn to the Specialists. This website is brought to you by generous contributors who help cover the costs of its design, production, and resources. I call them the Looking Closer Specialists. We have our own private Facebook group where they influence my vision for

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings: 2015 — Part One

How to compare them? They're apples and oranges — and pears, peaches, lemons, and pineapples, along with some nutritious helpings of vegetables. To try and rate them in a single list is pretty much pointless... ...unless you perceive this as a way of recommending them to you with different

On Songs & Albums

Looking Closer's 2015 Playlist

Over the last several weeks, I've been building a playlist of some of my favorite songs from 2015. I'm wrapping it up between now and New Year's Eve. It's currently 64 songs long. I've been sharing that playlist with the

On Songs & Albums

Ken Priebe's Christmas Playlist

Stop animation — that's what I see when I hear "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." I suspect that this is true for many who grew up, like I did, with a Christmas tradition of watching stop-animation specials on

On Songs & Albums

Psalms for Refugees, Terrorists, and Other Neighbors

These past few weeks have made my country look like an insecure nation, under no god but Self-Interest, easily divisible, with persecution and injustice for all. Perhaps there is a lesson here — that we should not seek hope in the promises of politicians, or in the pride of patriots, or

On Songs & Albums

Farewell to a master

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. Today, though, I'm already saluting a veteran of the U.S. Army and the front lines of American music. Here's what I wrote in my Favorite Recordings of 2009 list after listening to Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi

On Songs & Albums

What Laura Marling found in the dark

As singer-songwriter Laura Marling hiked up through the pre-dawn dark to fill a bottle with water from a Mount Shasta river, it occurred to her that she was following instructions from a stranger. A man. A much older man. And not just any older man — a self-proclaimed shaman. Whom she

On Songs & Albums

Why we need The Innocence Mission

What's your favorite Innocence Mission song? If you have one, post a comment. I'll share a few of mine, but first I encourage you to zip over to Christ and Pop Culture to read my impressions of what turns out to be a sort of 30th