Tragedy & Triumph
Posted August 22, 2007
By IronJedi,
C.S. Lewis is one of modern Christianity's greatest philosophers, wit and apologists. His writings offer insight and honesty that can be both bluntly brutal, yet in the same instance offer hope and consolation. Twilight, the debut from Future of Forestry, is infused with much of the same two-edged observations about life- sort of a modern, musical companion piece to Mr. Lewis' wisdom; synthesizing the reality of the mundane and hurt with hope and the wonder of grace.
The songs of Twilight wrestle with the truth that "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." They are also like fleeting glimpses from frontman Eric Owyoung's personal journal: these songs are personal, vulnerable disclosures about everyday struggles, questions and hurts, but also offerings of tangible hope- like the sun's rays silhouetted against the breaking storm clouds promising a brighter reality above and beyond the temporary, horizon-obscuring storms of life. Owyoung's lyrics are both down-to-earth and strikingly poetic. Grace and hope suffuse Twilight's lucid contemplations of the everyday intersected by The Infinite, or as "All I Want" puts it, "where glory meets the crude and weak."
Future of Forestry's sound shares many similarities with its previous incarnation, Something Like Silas. That's not to say that they are the same band operating under a new moniker. Instead, the band has moved away from the contemporary sonic trappings of modern worship and grown into a more approachable sound. Much like twilight is the in-between time of day and night, Future's sound is best described as reverential alternative/ modern rock.
Just as C.S. Lewis reminds us, "(t)hough our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not," the songs of the aptly titled Twilight hold out the same promise. Caught somewhere between the past, behind, and ahead, the future, Future of Forestry's Twilight is a very "here and now" release. May the future hold more from this talented band. View All Music And Book Reviews By IronJedi | View IronJedi's Profile
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