Ian McIntosh - Cool music, but is it worship?
>> Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A dear friend recommended I listen to Ian McIntosh, this 20 yr old musician from Redding, CA. I have to say, I really dig his music. There are traces of Mute Math and Coldplay throughout. From his MySpace page you can tell he is particularly burdened over the current state of the Christian music industry. He believes that God "intends to see an industry changed, so He can in turn, turn a nation towards Himself." That's fine. I don't personally know very many people in the industry, but I know the state of the Church, and that She isn't really any different from the world as far as divorce, adultery, or any other sin that's getting a lot of airplay from the pulpits across America. So I pray God will use Ian as a mighty tool in His hands.
I do want to provide a gentle critique though. Ian's sophomore release, Awakened, is promoted with the claim "YOU'VE NEVER HEARD WORSHIP LIKE THIS." (Experienced is substituted for heard on his MySpace page.)
What is wrong with that exactly?First of all, it equates music with worship. This is a problem that is rampant in the church and probably doing more harm than we really can measure. As my friend Brandon always says, "Music is part of worship, but it's not the heart of worship."
Secondly, underneath this equation is the assumption that some change in what is external will have an effect on what is internal. In Ian's case, he wants to make "cooler" music than what is largely available on "Christian" labels, because he believes
I dig Ian's heart here, and don't want to come off sounding too critical (because I believe his music actually is cooler than most of the other stuff out there!). But I believe that his mindset (as loner as he sounds) actually reflects a whole generation of Christians. It reminds me of a night I was having a talk with our worship band, and one of the younger guys said - in reference to another place we played outside of our own church - "Yeah, they really know how to worship!"
I was trying to be instructive, but ended up totally frustrated that night. He was saying to me the same thing that other older people were telling me about their more staid, less demonstrative worship and worship music preference - that it was "real" worship.
That is the same vibe I get from Ian's claim about his new album.
Ian's album definitely packs a powerful emotive punch, and it has a soaring musical landscape. It is good for the soul, in my opinion, to listen to. And it is worship music, in a broad sense. However, for the most part, it is not worship music in the narrower corporate sense. In keeping with his influences, the vocals are too high, the melodies have no helpful predictability and depend too much on the accompaniment (as cool and lush as it is) to have any value by themselves. This CD, as others have described on his iTunes page, is worshipful. However, that doesn't classify it as worship music.
I love the music Ian is writing and playing, and agree with him that we are God's image and are in relationship with the most creative Being and the Source of all creativity. I totally agree that this creativity should be harnessed and that we musicians should challenge ourselves to write to our best abilities. However, I would ask Ian to seek some balance and honor those who have gone before us and those who are among us that are writing truly great worship music and are living exemplary lives at the same time. No doubt this will come with time.
I pray God's blessing on Ian. He no doubt has the semblance of a prophetic gift surging within him. And I hope that the Lord of the Dance will use this wonderfully talented young man to impact the world and Church in a powerful way.
What is wrong with that exactly?First of all, it equates music with worship. This is a problem that is rampant in the church and probably doing more harm than we really can measure. As my friend Brandon always says, "Music is part of worship, but it's not the heart of worship."
Secondly, underneath this equation is the assumption that some change in what is external will have an effect on what is internal. In Ian's case, he wants to make "cooler" music than what is largely available on "Christian" labels, because he believes
that when we as Christians, who know the most creative being who ever existed, step up and challenge themselves and write the most creative music ever, that we’ll be in a place where we can disciple an industry back to playing moral music. This is my heart. To see a nation changed. I just have a heart for the music industry.
I dig Ian's heart here, and don't want to come off sounding too critical (because I believe his music actually is cooler than most of the other stuff out there!). But I believe that his mindset (as loner as he sounds) actually reflects a whole generation of Christians. It reminds me of a night I was having a talk with our worship band, and one of the younger guys said - in reference to another place we played outside of our own church - "Yeah, they really know how to worship!"
I was trying to be instructive, but ended up totally frustrated that night. He was saying to me the same thing that other older people were telling me about their more staid, less demonstrative worship and worship music preference - that it was "real" worship.
That is the same vibe I get from Ian's claim about his new album.
Ian's album definitely packs a powerful emotive punch, and it has a soaring musical landscape. It is good for the soul, in my opinion, to listen to. And it is worship music, in a broad sense. However, for the most part, it is not worship music in the narrower corporate sense. In keeping with his influences, the vocals are too high, the melodies have no helpful predictability and depend too much on the accompaniment (as cool and lush as it is) to have any value by themselves. This CD, as others have described on his iTunes page, is worshipful. However, that doesn't classify it as worship music.
I love the music Ian is writing and playing, and agree with him that we are God's image and are in relationship with the most creative Being and the Source of all creativity. I totally agree that this creativity should be harnessed and that we musicians should challenge ourselves to write to our best abilities. However, I would ask Ian to seek some balance and honor those who have gone before us and those who are among us that are writing truly great worship music and are living exemplary lives at the same time. No doubt this will come with time.
I pray God's blessing on Ian. He no doubt has the semblance of a prophetic gift surging within him. And I hope that the Lord of the Dance will use this wonderfully talented young man to impact the world and Church in a powerful way.
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