Ever since I heard the opening riff to "Meant to Live (The Beautiful Letdown, 2003), I've been huge fan of the music and message of Switchfoot. It's no secret that I am a bit of a groupie (I've seen them live five times, met them twice, and even wrote a sermon entitled, "7 Truths about God Based on the Music of Switchfoot." It's not an exaggeration when I say that their music is the soundtrack to my life. Their influence on my outlook and theology cannot be overstated.
My passion has been passed on to my kids, so not surprisingly, every new album release is met with great enthusiasm in our house--no less so for the latest, Where the Light Shines Through.
I confess I wasn't blown away at first listen and felt it lacked a signature song or sound to set it apart. But I've had a change of heart--you might say the light eventually shone through. "I Won't Let You Go" has brought me to tears a few times over the past two emotional months, and for a pick-me-up, I love to turn up "Bull in a China Shop." The apex, though, is "If the House Burns Down Tonight," a celebratory road-trip rocker which is destined to make my Switchfoot Top 10 Greatest Hits list. It perfectly captures how I feel about Karen and my marriage in these tumultuous and change-filled times:
Holding you and the wheel and it occurs to me
We're driving down the edge of eternity
And if the house burns down tonight
I got everything I need when I got you by my side
And let the rest burn
And let the rest burn
I'm not crazy about "Looking for America" (Featuring rapper Lecrae, I think it tries too hard to be politically relevant) or "Live It Well" (a bit too much like 20 other better Switchfoot tunes). But the album as a whole is another great addition to the Switchfoot anthology. One song, "Hope is the Anthem," is being used in ads for NBC's Chicago Fire, proving once again the band's continuing power to make great music that inspires everyone. May they never stop shining their light into the darkness.