Religious music and albums about break-ups aren’t my usual fare. The tone and message of both are neither unusual or groundbreaking – Jesus rules for the former, while ex-boy/girlfriends suck for the latter. But what if someone were to merge the two, penning an album about breaking up with religion. How would that sound?
Simply amazing, as it turns out.
Taylor Muse, the driving force behind Austin’s Quiet Company, has created a rich tapestry of questioning faith and engaging music in the band’s latest effort We Are All Where We Belong. The hour-long opus of personal struggle is backed with indie pop eliciting The Beatles, Coldplay, Death Cab For Cutie and Thursday, making for a brisk blend that is never tiresome or staid. It’s a damn revelation.
Engineered by Tim Palmer (who has worked with Pearl Jam, U2 and The Cure), We Are All Where We Belong moves along in big chunks, each song a chapter in Muse’s journey. A church organ chimes at the outset of “The Confessor,” the album’s opening salvo, as Muse sets the mood: “The river’s wide and I could not swim across it/ So I convinced myself I walked along the waves,” he sings, adding, “I don’t want to waste my life.”
There’s plenty of introspection to follow. The lively “You, Me & The Boatman” follows, an enthusiastic song where Muse slowly shakes off a belief in the afterlife – “This existence is probably all we have/ And so the lives we make are all that matter” he sings amidst a fluid background or horns and drums.
Quiet Company moves back and forth between loud outbursts and quaint resolve. “We Went To The Renaissance Faire” has the band at it’s rollicking best, with fast guitars and driving drums; “Everything Louder Than Everything Else” takes two minutes before the lyrics begin, but it’s a treat to hear Muse fighting himself “When I go, there will probably be no angels singing, no harps ringing,” his voice rising, before a yelp of “nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.”
The sound is slick and sharp, with bright horns and intricate guitar strums, soft strings and just-right cymbals, all to help enunciate Muse’s story of doubt and despair which slowly turns to elation and resolution. “Don’t worry about death, we’re all gonna be just fine,” Muse sings in “At Last! The Celestial Being Speak,” before bellowing into a chorus of Hallelujah, a joyful release in sing-along clothes.
We Are All Where We Belong is masterful work, a painting in music of vibrant imagery and meaning. Consider me a disciple.
