The Kry

Item: Undone
Author: Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen

Undone

(2002)

Reviewed by Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen

Discogs Apple Music Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Metro One MusicThe Phantom Tollbooth2003

ccm pop rock

Here,
Nothin's here to stay;
Here,
Soon becomes yesterday.

The bottom line for these introductory lines of the first track on The Kry's latest disc, Undone, is everything is fleeting. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is permanent. This philosophical prelude sounds a lot like the philosophy of John Locke, does it not? Not!

In case you forgot, John Locke, one of the most influential philosophers to shape present-day psychological thought, believed that one comes into the world with nothing, a blank slate, which is filled like a writing table by experience. This way of conceptualizing human nature went against the grain of orthodox thought, that man and woman were intricately created in the image of God, but permanently damaged by the Fall.

While Locke has enjoyed a gargantuan following over the years and is undoubtedly one of the most influential men to shape contemporary Western culture, the contemporary Christian rockers known as The Kry have not been impacted by his influence. It is apparent in the lyrics of this Bible-based band that they believe men and women enter the world not with a clean slate, but with a dirty one in need of a powerful cleanser.

What makes the Kry cry is their belief that we are all born into sin. The human race has entered a race that ends in self-destruction. Mr. Clean is not clean enough to cut through this sordid grease and grime. To borrow the words from Depeche Mode, one needs his/her "own personal Jesus."

Classics were something that folks like the great thinker Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz implored Locke to adore. But for Locke, classics were a bore for he was locked behind an iron-clad door, one with a sign that said, "What can we depend upon? Nothing but the mud of experience." Sure, we can all learn from experience, but experience tends to further soil what is already sordid. Jimi Hendrix used to ask, "Are you experienced?" Like Locke, Hendrix thrived on physics and its dynamic equations but experience for Hendrix was the distance from one fix to another.

No, Locke's latchkey does not fit in the door to The Kry's Undone. Though they are far apart in terms of their mission and overall message, at first glance, another band seems to share The Kry's model of man and woman. "You're really lovely underneath it all," moans the flirty, flamboyant frontwoman for No Doubt. It is doubtful No Doubt has anything divine on their minds when they sing "Underneath it all" but the song's hook is a nice metaphorical object upon which to hang the message underlying The Kry's Undone. Originally created in the image of God means that bountiful beauty lies underneath the residue of a corrupted nature.

True
Narrow is the way
Few
The number of our days

The Kry makes their presence known in the song "Here." Here is where it begins and ends for Locke and his lot of empirical scientists who have had far too much say in the shaping of modern psychology. But for The Kry, life goes on long "long after the thrill of living is gone," to borrow a famous line from "Jack and Diane" and its songwriter, the man they used to call "Cougar." This is apparent in "Maybe," the second offering of this album, a song pointing unequivocally to heaven.

The wheels are turning
The pieces are falling into place
But I am ready to go
The day is coming
Everything seems to point
To your return
Not many are able to discern
But I am waiting for you
For no one knows
The day or the hour
It comes like a thief in the night

"In" is a song about where redemptive history ultimately leads. Redemptive history is history with a future; a divine one. The history of psychology, on the other hand, though it began with a philosophical foundation made up of Plato's notion of soul, began to end with the introduction of an empiricist philosophy. In such a philosophy, man is reduced to machine and the soul to a laughable vestige of the Dark Ages. Listening to the eagerly urgent introduction and exultant rhythm in "Maybe," The Kry is a band with a past; a past with a future. Undone is the latest indication that their future never looked brighter. They are tight. They never seem to miss a beat or the benefits of a Bible verse. On Undone, they sound anything but incomplete or undone. The rhythms are crisp, the sound is scintillating, the vocal harmonies are meticulously executed and decidedly melodious. The lyrics come straight from the book upon which their beliefs are based. Unlike doubting Thomas, or another modern day grandfather of psychology, Rene Descartes, who built his whole theory on doubting everything.

The Kry appears to harbor no doubt but Plato acknowledged that appearances could be deceiving. Songwriter and producer, Jean-Luc Lajoie humbly acknowledges in "My Everything," "I've let my doubts have the best of me." It seems that the band's frontman has more in common with doubting Descartes than initially assumed, but ultimately, the band knows where they came from and where they are going.

What's even more certain is that they take the listener with them. The Kry's confluence of collaborative creative energies; the protean musical gifts of Jean-Luc Lajoie, his reflective lines of poetic praise poignantly penned and deftly delivered; the peppy propulsion of David Roy's BIG, bold, bass-lines; Yves Lajoie's deliberate decadence delved out in a delightful drum deluge; Danny Donnelly's handling of an electric guitar like Roy Rogers handled the reins on his faithful horse, or like Paul Bunyan handled the handle of his ax and his exact vocal attacks in every backing track support a divine vision which easily transports the listener to some exceedingly heavenly places.

The best is saved for last. "Glorious" is pure praise. That's it folks, the CD is over. Or is it? Another round of "Undone" is sung on the 12th track. Repetition is an old artistic technique grounded in Gestalt psychology. The best thing about it is that no matter how many times the technique of repetition is repeated, it works. Like a leftover bowl of spaghetti that has spent the night soaking in its tomato-tangy juices, the title song tastes even better the second time around and it makes the CD sound complete.

If their spiritual journey is a work in progress, The Kry's music closely approximates perfection although a few more creative risks will take them even closer. Undone is how God wants us to come as we approach his throne of grace where He makes us complete. He promises to finish what he has begun in the hearts of all those who have accepted His free gift of salvation, although it is something we'll continue to struggle with until each of us joins Him permanently. The Kry is crying out for completion in terms of the work God has begun in each of their lives. They may be Undone until their last song is sung, but in the meantime, I believe my life will be more complete if listened to every one.

3.5 tocks