When you’re a 21-year-old, it’s not a common experience to say a band has been your favorite for eight years, because so much changes in your tastes from ages 13 to 21. Yet, somehow Switchfoot has been just that for me.
As a 13-year-old, I can remember loving them in a more superficial way, jamming in my room to “Meant to Live” and “Gone” from their The Beautiful Letdown album. Then at 15, I can remember having a deeper connection with them, finally understanding the brilliance and depth of their lyrics and using so many of the songs on The Beautiful Letdown, Nothing is Sound and Oh! Gravity as life mantras.
Then, my senior year of high school (fall of 2009), Hello Hurricane came out and resonated with me once again, with songs that made a new statement of who Switchfoot was without their previous label, a band that was “Christian by faith, not genre,” as bassist Tim Foreman puts it. This same transition was happening in my own life, where I was breaking away from the traditional cookie-cutter Christian life and moving towards a deeper understanding and passion for people of all types.
Then in 2011, when I was a sophomore in college, the band released Vice Verses, which had a theme of looking for God in the midst of the trials in the journey of life. Once again, Switchfoot had conveniently met me where I was, singing anthems that related to how I felt at that time in my life. To hear Switchfoot sing in the midst of painful verses hopeful words such as, “I know that there’s a meaning to it all,” I knew that I could make it through my own trials.
And now, in Jan. 2014, Switchfoot has released their ninth album, Fading West (along with a Fading West documentary that was released back in September), and once again, I am reminded why I love their music: it’s real, raw and intelligently written.
“Where do songs come from? For me, they come from the uncomfortable places. Awkward, painful places where I feel tested, face to face with the questions that don’t have easy answers,” said Jon Foreman, Switchfoot lead singer, lead guitarist and main songwriter.
In the band’s search for answers, one big theme that arises in the album is the power of love, as seen in their song, “Love Alone Is Worth the Fight.”
“It was a big year for us; we actually made a film traveling around the world, looking for inspiration, recording these songs, chasing waves and through it all we discovered one central theme that kind of cemented the entire album together, and if we could sum it up, it’s that love alone is worth the fight. At the end of it all, it’s the people around you and how you love them that counts,” Tim Foreman said.
Another one of my favorite songs on the album is “The World You Want.” It speaks of how each day is a chance to make a change in the world and features South African kids singing at the beginning, which is a really cool musical effect.
“While we were traveling, we met up with some kids in South Africa and we decided to record them and have them sing at the beginning of this song and it really inspired us that every day you’re alive you change the world,” said Jerome Fontamillas, Switchfoot guitarist and pianist.
Even though this album is slightly different musically than their previous one, Vice Verses, and I have to say I like Vice Verses more, I enjoy the difference in this album, because it shows their versatility as a band and gives me a taste of something new. I tend to be a fan of music that is slower and acoustic, and this album doesn’t have as much of that, but it makes sense because this was a point in the band’s life when they were surfing and traveling the world, soaking up happiness and adventure and having new revelations.
“Musically speaking this album was the most challenging we’ve ever faced. … Suffice it to say we’re very proud of the final outcome. We’re thankful to be on the other side and we can’t wait for you to hear the songs that the journey produced,” Jon Foreman said.
