"The Hold Steady" and "Wolf Parade": ready for church music?

HT to two friends (one virtual and one real)  for introducing me to some new (for me) Godhaunted music!








1)

Wiki says:

Noted for their "lyrically dense storytelling," and classic rock influences, the band's narrative-based songs frequently address themes, including drug addiction, religion and redemption, and often take place within the city of Minneapolis.  link

That alone would have sold me on the band "The Hold Steady" already, but that article  was not my first introduction to them.  It was a story in The Sarcastic Lutheran's book,

"Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint" (see Rachel Held Evans' review 

here)  that sent me googling.  As a pastor, Nadia was holding "office hours" at a  bohemian

coffee shop (liek any good pastor does, right?), and had this dialogue with a skeptical 

parishoner:

"Do you know the band The Hold Steady?," I asked. "They have a song with lyrics that describe this girl who crashed into Easter Mass with her hair done up in broken glass and tells the priest, 'Father, can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?'
"Sometimes," I told him, "that's what this Jesus thing is all about."  (p. 170)

Enough said.
Here are the lyrics  to that song "How a Resurrection Really Feels.

Of course, I knew the inevitable question had been asked:
Is The Hold Steady considered a christian rock band? - Yahoo! Answers.

Here's an interview with the frontman: Craig Finn Talks About His Solo Tour and Why Most Christian Bands Suck

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2)
In one class I teach, the faculty decided to put into the syllabus the brilliant  idea of having students post songs that are "modern psalms," songs that may not be "officially Christian," but are somehow worshipful or psalmlike.  It has been amazing to see what comes in.  And sometimes I learn about an artist I might not otherwise know.  So thanks to St. David Garcia for the tip on: Wolf Parade :




"Lousy Pictures"
Where did you go?
Across the sea?
Sat on the beach
With the rusting machines?
Where did you go?
Across the sea?
Sat on the beach
With the rusting machines?

I know there was a time
Before we were born

We stood in the trees
Heads filled with nothing
There was a time
Before we were born
We stood in the trees
Heads filled with nothing

Become an angel with its wings on fire
Here comes an angel with its wings on fire
I'm in the basement delivering the hours

God made mistakes
We threw rocks at the sky
Old cities where they built things high
God made mistakes
We threw rocks at the sky
Old cities where they built things high

I know there was a time
Before we were born
We stood in the trees
Heads filled with nothing
I know there was a time
Before we were born
We stood in the trees
Heads filled with nothing

They had a photograph
A lousy picture of you
Just something too much

Become an angel with its wings on fire
Here comes an angel with its wings on fire
I'm in a basement delivering the hours

I'm in a basement just killing the hours