c. scott andreas

A departure from experimental projects such as A Collision and Sunsets and Sushi, Remedy is Crowder’s “there-and-back-again” take on the clean but edgy style he’s developed in Can You Hear Us? and Illuminate.

More than signaling his transformation as an artist, Remedy’s synthetic plea may be indicative of a larger transformation toward an ancient/(post-)modern spirituality bent on changing the world emerging in Christian music as well as Christian thought.

I’ve listened to Remedy a few times and read through the slick digital booklet that tagged along.  The verdict?

It’s delightful - I’m really enjoying it. Not outstanding, but pretty good and definitely worth buying if you’re a Crowder fan.

More than anything, I appreciate Remedy’s blend of the acoustic purity of piano and guitar with (ultra-)digital sound effects – both within individual tracks and in the album as a whole. Far from coming off as “over-processed” like so much CCM today, the mashup is as much a work of art as it is a statement. Just as the simple “acoustic guitar + piano” and “Twinkie-powered synth + driving electric” can be enjoyed apart (”Never Let Go” / “Neverending”), a complex blend of the two can be just as beautiful (”Remedy,” “O, For a Thousand Tongues…)

If we’re to assume that the album has a unifying theme (and further, that said theme is revealed in the title track), we need look no further than “Remedy”:

Here we are
The broken and used
Mistreated, abused
Here we are
…
You are the one
Who has saved us
You are the one
Who forgave us
You are the one who has come
And is coming again
To make it alright
…
Let us be the remedy
Let us bring the remedy

“Remedy” (the track) suggests a tortured anthropology in which wo/men experiencing the fullness of pain and brokenness of a world tainted by sin healed by a creator who “has saved us” and “is coming to make it alright again.”

The conclusion, however, is a repeated proposition that this fact warrants a response that is not merely vocal, but active. This stands as a punchy counterpoint to the preceding track, “We Won’t Be Quiet,” which drips with CCM tropes like

We’ll shout it out loud
From a rooftop
We won’t be quiet
…
And we can’t stop
We won’t deny it

which are sure to irk post-evangelical sensibilities bothered not by “worship” as such, but a narrow definition thereof that proscribes actions other than the multimedia proclamation of one’s love for God as “worshipful.”

The album concludes with a quiet, humble plea: “Surely we can change (something).”

Where there is pain, let us bring grace
Where there is suffering, bring serenity
For those afraid, let us be brave
Where there is misery, let us bring them relief

And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something.

Echoing the Prayer of St. Francis, Crowder calls Christians to action as if offering a benediction: “May the end of (the) Remedy mark a beginning - a beginning of your holistic ministry to the hearts, souls, minds, and bodies of those who desire peace and relief from the hardships of life, wherever they may be.

Surely we can change…something.

(Cheers to Jon for telling me of the album’s release)