Seize the storm

 This is the first album by a Twin Cities (Minnesota) based band called Mainstay.   I happened to be at their very first gig in Brookings when they began touring with John Reuben, The Wedding, and Falling Up.   I was helping out with the concert so I got to talk to Ryan, the drummer, for  quite a bit before the concert.   He’s a really nice guy.   We talked shop for a while (as I was about to get my bass at the time) and play guitar and have dabbled just a little bit with the drums.   Justin’s grandparents showed up to the concert however his grandfather couldn’t get too close to the speakers otherwise they would mess with his pacemaker.    I thought it was really nice that they showed up to support him though.   Though I don’t want to make a big deal about this, I think it’s worth mentioning that before the concert, I saw them pray for quite a long time.   I didn’t listen in as they were outside, but I was glad they were making sure of their focus before the tour (and their primetime career) started.   I guess they’ve been around for a while but didn’t sign with a record label until last year.

Sadly, they didn’t have their cd out when they started their tour - what a bummer!   They were predicting a January release of the record.   Well, the lead singer totally lost his voice and it bumped back the release for nearly two months.   They were able to record the music and later, record the vocals.   The minor setback hasn’t really affected their poplularity.   I now hear the single, Take Away, on the Refuge out of the Twin Cities.   I’m not sure what their popularity is outside the midwest.

The Review

Well Meaning Fiction is a short album - eleven songs and one of them is a reprise of Take Away.   That is one of the very few negatives about this album.   The other negatives are just a few spots in various songs where you’re wondering if they should have done what they did there, because it really was a change from the main theme or sound of the song.

Though the length of the songs are fairly short, they are profoundly deep.   I find myself listening more to the sounds of the song and not the words.   Then again, I usually listen to this at work so I’m concentrating on work and not the words of the song.   There are two themes to this record.   The first is that God is all powerful, He doesn’t have to do anything He wants to do.   We try and box him in with all these limits of what WE think He should do and when He should do it.   But it’s not about us.   He gave us everything and He can easily take it all away, and that is His right.   The second theme is about the struggle with living two lives - the lives our friends or other people in the world live, and our godly lives (however godly or not godly they might be).   It talks about how people just make excuses for themselves and keep on sinning when they should just realize that what they’re doing is wrong, simply wrong.   Moreso, the responsibility of telling people this is put on Christian; we shouldn’t dull the edge and talk about their sin as if it’s wrong but not a huge deal at all, and you were just kinda-sorta pointing it out in the event they might be interested in changing their lives and need some motivation.   You see, if we don’t tell them actually how wrong it really is, how are they going to know that God isn’t happy with what they’re doing and that things would be so much better if they’d just stop what they’re doing and listen to what God wants.

I really like what they have to say in their lyrics - the message is deep.   I fear it might be so deep that people might not pick it up and are just lip-sync’ing along with the song.

The sound of the album is pretty much rock but not a harder rock like some of Jeremy Camp’s songs.   Definitely not a Pillar or Thousand Foot Krutch sound.   The vocals are predominantly in  a slightly higher range but often transitions back and forth between regular and false setto.   I would say it’s definitely more for a tenor voice as I have trouble singing along at a Baritone/Bass level.   If that was something I could suggest to them on the next record, this would be it: to work on the vocals a bit more so its easier to sing along to.   Do I like it the way it is?   YES!   But I have trouble singing along with it, that’s all.

I’m already looking forward to their next album and seeing what the come up with and change.   In the meantime, I’ll listen to single after single hit the airwaves.

Favorite tracks: Take Away, This Could Be, Mirrors

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Excellent job guys; I like the album and  dig the lyrics. I am expecting more songs and some easier vocals next time.