The Arcade Fire, Threefold, April Davenny, Sarah Masen

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Sorry I haven’t updated much lately. Anyway, I have a brief update on Second Guess the Critic, and some reactions (but not a full review) from a concert I went to Saturday night.

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For this week’s Second Guess the Critic at the phorum, you can guess what my opinion on the latest from The Arcade Fire is. I’m already planning on surprising people with what I have to say about the album, but I do think many of my readers would like them. You can listen to a few songs from the album Funeral at their record label’s site.

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So this past Saturday I went to see Threefold and April Davenny at Club Cristo. OK, so technically it was a fluffy young Christian acoustic pop singer and one of the region’s best Christian rock bands in the back of a church. Still, it was a good show. For a cleaned up church hall, Club Cristo is a smooth and intimate venue. It’s like a coffeehouse, but with a few more chairs and a few less types of coffee. After I’d gotten comfortable I found out that that cute girl sitting next to me was opening act April Davenny. She wasn’t bad, per se, but I was having a really hard time getting into most of her stuff. Am I the only one who finds it irritating when ministry-oriented Christian singers decide to stop and preach on topics that not all Christians agree on? I mean, I can respect some preaching at concerts, but it gets a bit annoying when it’s stuff that has nothing to do with the singer’s faith. OK, so you want to promote sexual purity with kids – sure. Is it really a good idea to stop an acoustic pop show with an audience of 15 people so you can tell everyone that God doesn’t leave anyone single their whole life? I'd have to disagree with April there.

Anyway, enough whining about that. Threefold was awesome. This was my first time seeing them do a full show (compared to the Christmas show I saw last year), and they didn’t disappoint. They played a most of the songs from Through the Torn Curtain, as well as "Why Don’t You?" and "Sinking" from their debut, Sinking. Other highlights included the hymn "Amazing Grace" to the tune of Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit". To be honest, I didn’t even know you could flesh out that song well without electric guitars and bass. They also covered "I Need You" by Jars of Clay, and it was a good cover even though it’s one of my least favorite songs by them. A few funky "Sunday school songs" and a cover of "Blackbird" by The Beatles were also pretty fun. Since it was such a small show, I think just about everyone in the audience had a chance to talk to both bands for a few minutes.

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Also, I splurged on a copy of Sarah Masen’s Carry Us Through for $3 earlier today. You can get a brief taste of her stuff at her site if you’re not familiar with her. I forget what the details are but she’s some kind of relative of the lead singer of Switchfoot, and she was on Charlie Peacock’s re:think label back when this album came out. I wonder if I’ll like it.

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