Switchfoot and The Graduate

Today I have some music for you by a band that has been around for a little while, and is a band that has been with me for quite a few years. Switchfoot has been a band that has jumped around from a lot of different genre labels. One day they are rock, the next day they are Christian rock, and the day after that they become a pop band. But out of all of these genres and labels and categories, I think it is important to point out how transcendent their music is. The thing is, while Switchfoot is capable of being a member of all these groups, there is one style of music that they will always be defined as for me- heartfelt music. Every song by Swtichfoot that I have fallen hopelessly in love with, has been a song full of soul and passion and heart. You can hear the joy of playing music, being musicians for the sake of creating something wonderful and beautiful and maybe even life changing. Last week I talked a little about five songs that changed my life or had a significant impact on my life. This is a band who has a song that falls into that category. Now I am being a little selfish about that song, waiting until I feel ready to post it because that song is one that has so much meaning to me. But this song is another one of those special songs that always makes you really feel when you hear it. Swtichfoot is actually one of those bands that does make you explore exactly how you feel, and they take you to those secret little pockets of existence that make you step back and take in the world around you. This song is one that sounds beautiful to the background track of rain falling, makes your soul feel warm when listening to the song on a crisp autumn day, the kind of song that makes you feel the more emotionally grey portions of the lyrics when its cold and gloomy outside, and makes you feel those abundant skies when the sun shines with no clouds in the sky. This song is a more mature and grown sound from Switchfoot, and is off my favorite album by them overall. One of the things that really got me to understand this growth, is realizing that there is a lyrical shift in this album, and it is a shift that I have not seen with many artists in general. Majority of the time, artists write and sing lyrics about the answers they have found. What makes Switchfoot so compelling and easy to connect to, is their admittance of still searching for answers. Throughout this song and album, we slowly understand that there are no answers or attempts at providing answers to all the emotional and life questions we have. There is an accepted ignorance, an enchanting unawareness to the lyrics of the song. In terms of the music and instrumentals, this is a song that is infused with powerful, melodic, and emotional rock, a definite stretch from what their older sound was. I do have to say that Jon Foreman's vocals are unique and different, but there is a very calm and collected way that he sings. That style of singing sounds spectacular on a background track like this because it gives the overall song a more controlled sound. While the background instrumentals have a lot more dynamism, especially with the crescendos and decrescendos, Jon Foreman's voice provides a line of stability from which the instruments work from. The lyrics of this song are personal yet universal view into the thoughts of hope, and the music reflects that sense of hope very well. This is not necessarily an inspirational song, but there is a beautiful sense of hope in the song. There is soft and elegant guitar and piano work in this song, accompanied by gentle drums to give the song a quiet heartbeat. The climatic point in the song, after the final verse, is this mystifying and comforting sense of resolution. Jon Foreman's vocals soar for a moment, and the music dwindles to allow that note to shine through. The perfect balance between these two components is something that makes this song undeniably attractive and a song that you don't just hear, but really listen to. Today's instrumental song is from the movie The Graduate. This is an older movie, one that I sadly have not seen. But I really like this rendition of one of the songs of the soundtrack. The piano version of this song was just heart warmingly beautiful. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!