After Edmund

by Jenny Bennett 

If there’s one word to sum up After Edmund’s upcoming album Hello, produced by Scotty Wilbanks (Third Day), it would be experimental. And by that I do not mean tentative.

One quality that allows for that experimentation to happen is the unique flexibility of the band members’ musical abilities – each formally trained member plays more than one instrument, and during their dynamic live performances they’ve been known to switch places on the stage, which they did during their recent performance on The Kitchen Sink!

It is difficult to write about music that is so different from anything else I’ve heard. I have no real frame of reference to compare it to. (Even if I’m not writing about comparisons, I am making them, and it helps to shape my reactions to the music and put them into words.) But when I listen to Hello it catches me off guard. Which in this case is a good thing.

The complexity of their sound may not lend them to contemporary Christian radio, but it lends them to my ears, and it impressed indie label Slanted Records under the Spring Hill Music umbrella, which recently launched GRAMMY-nominated rock band DecembeRadio.

Their classical training is evident, especially on Go Oboe, a short instrumental piece (piano and violin) that calls to mind some old-time movie, and then morphs into a Pink Floyd-like closing (there, I did it!), transitioning into another of the album’s outstanding tracks, Clouds.

If the album has a weakness it might be the slower songs, if only because their up-tempo songs are so full of intensity. But sometimes even their slow songs can trick you by starting off unhurried and then accelerating into a rhythmic fury, only to slow back down again on the chorus. (Listen to Darkest Room, a :42 prelude to Come and Rain Down and you’ll know what I mean.) So weakness is probably not the right word – come to think of it – the slower, more melodic Stealing Away is one of my favorite songs on the album. And To See You Leave is another passion-filled and unique rock ballad that I imagine would be breathtaking during a live show.

Live shows are definitely the band's strong point; seeing them on The Kitchen Sink was more than enough to entice me to go to a concert. And not only is the band focused on using their music to minister to people, but they're nice enough to stick around after shows to talk with fans, hear what's on their minds, and share their faith.

Come and Rain…is the record’s praise & worship offering in the most traditional sense of the words, but the album’s opener Thank God, in an unexpected way, could also fall into this category. (Thank God I’ve lost all my hope in everything that isn’t You…I’m tuning out the noise…)

The mid-tempo Like a Dream is one of the hallmarks of the album. Obtainable yet thought-provoking lyrics throughout the album (Sometimes the silence speaks when I don’t have the words, whispering the wonder of your love. And in my ear a melody more beautiful than words, and I can hear the promise of your love. Like a dream coming true, I believe in you…) is the other quality After Edmund possesses, which adds a highly spiritual component to the music without being stuffy – bringing their music within reach without being cliché.

All this combines to form a record that is uniquely After Edmund, and one the music industry needs to sit up and take notice of.

afteredmund.com
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