Relient K’s Matt Thiessen is rock music’s perennial underdog, so one tends to pull for him, almost instinctively. However, his band’s latest effort, Collapsible Lung, makes it difficult to be entirely on Thiessen’s side. Although it’s a bright, commercial, pop effort, it doesn’t include nearly as much wit and wisdom as we’ve come to expect from this usually reliable band (and its fine leader). For starters, there are areas where Relient K’s Christian fan base is surely going to nitpick a bit. (For instance, “If I Could Take You Home” sure sounds like an invitation for a one night stand and “PTL” stands for “part time lover.”) Musically, Collapsible Lung is just a little too pretty; it’s not nearly tough enough. Instead of charging guitars, Relient K’s multiple producers have filled these grooves with the sort of polite pop-rock that sometimes sneaks onto the pop charts alongside the usual floozy divas. Collapsible Lung may mark one step forward in Relient K’s quest for radio success, but it’s also two giant steps back in the credibility column. Yep – it just may knock the wind out of you.
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The Top 25 Albums of 2020
When the going gets tough, artists create art. Despite a world reckoning outside our quarantined doors, musicians relentlessly created new music giving birth to genre-defining releases and, despite a year spent indoors, a marked 2020 full of passion and fervor. Here are our Top 25 albums of 2020.
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Droning On
The world came to a halt in 2020, but London-based Drones trudged on, giving a voice to the hurt that circulates with (or without) a pandemic: "You shouldn’t underestimate the power of writing things down or literally speaking them out loud, which I’m learning. I’m glad I made these songs, no matter how personal they are."
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In a World of Hurt
...a kind word goes a long way. "When it comes to writing and music, these are the gifts God has given me and that’s what I want to use to further the Kingdom and return those things back to God."
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The Space for Rebirth
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