David Thulin

Reconstruction

There is nothing quite like the “they’re the Christian version of…” phenomenon. A non-secular version of everything—but it’s OK! They’re Christian!

David Thulin is that, but for EDM. (If your home is somewhere under a rock, EDM is short for “electronic dance music.” It was all but pioneered in the mainstream in the 1990s and 2000s by acts like Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, and Prodigy, but is more intensely famous now with DJs and performers like Skrillex and Deadmau5 earning six figures a night performing in places like Las Vegas and Dubai.) The sound has expanded as well, incorporating a number of sub-genres like trance, house, and club.

Thulin’s major mission is to bring CEDM (yes, that’s short for Christian electronic dance music) to the world. To be fair to Thulin, if you’re on board with the Christian-alternative movement, that hole is there waiting to be filled. Thulin is a great producer (and, interestingly enough, a former commercial air pilot); he’s released a couple of independent albums prior to Reconstruction, but for his first major label release, he’s taken a number of Christian hits and given them the EDM renovation.

But the album is still simply remixes. And if your source material isn’t Grade A, you’re starting the day in a hole. You don’t make the best sushi with fish from yesterday.

The major issue with Christian alternatives is that they rarely do it better than their secular counterparts. In fact, due to the niche market, a lot of times they don’t have to try too hard because of the built-in marketplace.

I believe that Thulin tried on this record, but with the ubiquitousness of the sound, cheaper laptops, and freely available instrumental and acapella tracks on the Internet, the remix world is getting larger and larger. Every high schooler who was once a rapper is now a DJ. It won’t be long before he has competition, and labels realize that CEDM can sell, too. We’ll see what’s left when that happens.