The Choir

Item: Flap Your Wings
Author: Terry Wandtke

Flap Your Wings

(2000)

Reviewed by Terry Wandtke

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Label Galaxy 21 MusicThe Phantom Tollbooth2000

alternative rock dream pop shoegaze

When The Choir declared that Free Flying Soul would be their final album, devoted fans mourned because those fans knew they meant it. As a band, these guys are nothing if not sincere. Consider any of the lyrics written by Steve Hindalong, sung by Derri Daugherty, and punctuated by their talented musicianship, and you'd be hard pressed to disagree. Luckily for devoted fans of The Choir (and of other bands they inspired such as The Prayer Chain and The Throes), Hindalong and Daugherty are unable to stop making music. Since The Choir's "final" album, they've continued to write music (together and separately), play in other bands, and hone their abilities as producers. And seemingly destined to continue playing their part in CCM history, Hindalong and Daugherty have come together with Dan Michaels and Tim Chandler to put out another Choir album: Flap Your Wings.

At their Cornerstone 2000 reunion show, Hindalong said (to the crowd's dismay) that it may be the last time they'd play together as The Choir. Certainly, his words were motivated by their general lack of financial success as both a "Christian" and a "cross-over" band. However, Flap Your Wings continues their general success as artists with integrity and testifies to their continued relevancy in any market. Perhaps their most cohesive album since Circle Slide, it opens with the atmospheric guitar work of the title song. During my first listen, I appreciated the general flow of the album. Dwight Ozard has often called the music of The Choir soundscapes, and that description still applies. This album has an organic wholeness that allows the listener to move from one song to the next and to be surprised by the individuality of the song only once in its midst.

The title song is notable for lyrics equally poignant and simple (not simplistic). A longing for transcendence from the mortal coil, the melody suggests flight with clever use of keyboards and the piercing effect of the guitar work. "Shiny Floor" meditates on the desires and anxieties of someone protecting others from the messiness of life. As well as employing powerful metaphors, Hindalong carefully recharacterizes images by repeating phrases with slight changes:

Yes I'll try to be agile
Like a lynx on the hunt
Cause I don't want to knock any candles over
Or spill any punch
On your shiny floor
On your shiny floor
Yes I want to keep composed
Like a snake while I'm here
No I don't want to shed any skin unnecessarily
Let alone any tears

And later:

Yes I plan to lie so low
Like a snake in the mud
No I don't care to show my fangs to the innocent
Or spill any blood

Like "Flap Your Wings" and others such as "Sunny," this song is notable for its emotionally effective arrangement and again, its particular use of guitar. And like others such as "Flowing Over Me," the background vocals of Christine Glass are excellent, adding another layer of complexity to the song.

In interviews, Daugherty has been hard on himself, suggesting that he compensates for his lack of technical skill as a guitarist by using effects. In terms of The Choir's music, this is an unnecessary criticism. Jimi Hendrix (among others), a technically excellent player, taught the rock world that in many ways the electric guitar is a special effect. In Flap Your Wings (as on previous albums), The Choir has advanced this notion. Regardless, their music should never be reduced simply to the label of "special effect."

On the whole, this album is the product of solid song writing. Many of the songs stripped back to essentials such as "Mercy Lives Here" and "Beautiful Scandalous Night" (previously recorded on At the Foot of the Cross, Vol. I) resonate and are impressive. Not only do they showcase the lyrical impact, but they also reveal Daugherty's vocal stylings. Fragile and at odds with the conventions of grungy alternative rock, his voice is unusually beautiful, sometimes urgent and sometimes mournful.

Significant not only as a tribute but as a solid song is "Hey Gene," written for Gene Eugene of Adam Again and the Lost Dogs. At once a joyful recognition of Eugene's gain and a sorrowful admission of our loss, the song looks at Eugene's presence somewhere else:

I suppose you're doin' all right now
Making beautiful music on a white cloud
The Father, Son, and a holy host of angels
Surely sent up three cheers
Even as your mortal friends
Shed a few tears

Later the song continues with the encouragement, "Flap your wings" and the wonderment "I suppose you're playin' a harp now." The words are both playful and touching, but I should add, those who knew, saw, or even just had the pleasure of hearing Gene Eugene would have a hard time seeing him in white robes and a halo. Both Hindalong and Daugherty have previously stated that they regard God as a wonderful mystery. This song and the entirety of Flap Your Wings captures that sensibility (even with Mike Knott's cover art, equal parts representation and abstraction). The album employs beautiful images through which we conventionally envision the transcendent and yet acknowledges that those images are ultimately lacking, that God's glory is greater than them all.

4 tocks