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Does religious art ever deviate from religion itself? Can spiritual music ever just be music, or is the spirituality just as much a part of the song as its notes and signature? Who cares, as long as the art is good? 

Over the summer, I found myself listening to a lot of modern religious music. I was surprised by my attraction to this genre considering my lack of attraction to religion. Along with my questions of the value of theological art, I wondered if I was even allowed to listen to religious music (as I’m not religious myself). But that’s what I love about music. It’s truly for everyone. While education is said to be the great equalizer, music goes beyond the bounds of human understanding. There’s music theory, and math, and science which can explain the properties of music, but there’s no real way to define how music makes us feel. It just sort of… does. 

While all of the songs on this playlist are religious in content, I wouldn’t say that they’re necessarily religious in nature. While heavily cloaked in metaphor, ancient religious texts and modern hymns share many of the same foundational themes and motifs: love which borders on idolatry, human sacrifice, reverence, faith and doubt in equal measure. However, when it comes to contemporary spiritual songs, i​​t is less about the religious figurehead, than the figure of speech.

Whether or not these contemporary spirituals have everything or nothing to do with religion itself is up to you. I just like how they sound. If you want to know what they sound like, you can click this link here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1NUexu40Ssf687uADyMS43?si=b0accf7152da4ef0.

Songs:

The first track on this playlist is Mason Jennings’ “I Love You and Buddha Too” from his 2008 album “In The Ever.” Surprisingly folksy and beat-heavy, the song bares Jennings’ witty and contradictory approach to songwriting. From the first verse, “Oh Jesus, I love You… And I love Buddha too, Ramakrishna, Guru Dev, Tao Te Ching and Mohammed,” Jennings renounces his claim to a sole divinity and praises the beauty and unknowability of spirituality itself. “You are un-nameable, You are unknowable. All we have is metaphor. That’s what time and space are for.” Jennings transforms the heaviness of the unfathomable into something as loving and buoyant as his music. It’s all very kumbaya.

When it comes to covers of classics like Édith Piaf’s “Hymne a l’amour”, I’d sooner drive off a cliff than listen to one. Jeff Buckley’s 2002 rendition is the only exception. Ghostly vocals which reverberate like a church hall, haunting loops, and enough guitar pedals to drown your sorrows. Listening to Jeff Buckley’s “Hymne a L’amour” is a religious experience in and of itself. The meaning of the word ‘hymn’, which comes from the Greek ‘hymnos’, translates to ‘a song of praise.’ While commonly associated with religious verse, Édith Piaf dedicated this song to a longtime love of hers. I find the distortion from this preconceived vision of religious praise to a romantic adoration interesting and facile. Isn’t it so fascinating how humans can give so many different meanings to just one word. 

I know I’m only supposed to talk about one song from an album, but I would be amiss to exclude any songs from the incredible, amazing, showstopping “Mercy” by Natalie Bergman. In one word: wow. It’s a wonder why she doesn’t have millions of followers. There’s got to be something holy and sacred in her song “Shine Your Light on Me” because I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since I discovered her music a couple weeks ago. There is an impression she leaves upon her music which is so transient and precise, as music writer Mike McGonigal puts it: Bergman’s special brand of “lightly psychedelic hymns.” Be sure to check out her songs “He Will Lift You up Higher,” “I’m Going Home,” “Sweet Mary,” and of course: “Shine Your Light on Me” from Natalie Bergman’s “Mercy.”

http://open.spotify.com/playlist/1NUexu40Ssf687uADyMS43?si=b0accf7152da4ef0.