Delicate Beauty
Posted January 23, 2008
By kcarkid,
While few fans of Switchfoot will be terribly surprised, Jon Foreman's first two seasonal EP's are defined by beautiful, heartfelt songwriting complemented by Foreman's surprisingly full and buoyant voice (a rare trait in rock frontmen indeed). Furthermore, Foreman displays equal skill in arranging gorgeous acoustic music. Nowhere is this clearer than the Fall track "Moon is a Magnet" in which the guitar line follows a quietly frantic time signature and is backed up perfectly by a bass clarinet. While the songwriting (particularly in Equally Skilled and Somebody's Baby) is breathtaking, it's also breathtakingly sad. Fall was already melancholy, but Winter is borderline tragic. While Foreman avoids sounding hackneyed in such sadness thanks in large part to excellent musicianship complemented in equal measure by honesty, it can wear on the listener, simply because it is so sad. This sadness is mitigated, though. Nowhere is this clearer than in the final verse of "Equally Skilled" "no don't gloat over me / though I fall, though I fall / I will rise again" speaking of the healing and redemption that God grants those who seek it for as the song states (in contrast to that of the human) "Both of His hands are equally skilled / at ruining evil equally skilled / at judging the judges equally skilled." View All Music And Book Reviews By kcarkid | View kcarkid's Profile
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