to the people I love:

this applies to you.

I have been walking around Atlanta for the past few days with an excellent album in my ears. (or part of one, at least. Agh. I will buy the rest of it when I can. I bought the Stars album before I realized I should buy this, and so I don't have enough money to buy the whole album.) 

Anyway.

It's called Hello, Dear Wind, and Page France made it. I love Page France.

A problem I have with a lot of Christian music is that a lot of times the writers just don't try that hard. Maybe they'll make good words and sometimes they'll make cool sounds, but a lot of the times the two don't match up, or the words are a little cliché, or they forgot to use chords besides I, IV, or V. And a lot of the times it all falls in the same generic blah-pop sound. Any time I find an exception to this generalization I get pretty excited. David Crowder's Sunsets and Sushi album got me pretty excited. Sufjan Stevens gets me excited. And Hello, Dear Wind makes me want to jump and shout and be really happy because I'm so excited. Beautifully written, carefully thought out, and so, so honest. 

here are some of my favorite songs

Chariot

("you're a wrecking ball

with a heart of gold

we will wait for it to swing

like a chariot

swing it low for us

come and carry us away

so we will become

a happy ending")

...I couldn't think of a better metaphor for God than a wrecking ball with a heart of gold. I mean, really, people.

Windy

("I believe in windy days when everything gets blown away oh

Please let me be blown I

Promise you you I'm not afraid

I will sing a circus song

About the birds and lion hearts

But please if I forget to stop

Remind me who I am and what you are.")

So, in closing, do yourself a favor. Buy this album. Put it on your itunes. Take a long walk outside and listen, and love.