In the mid-90’s I was introduced to a number of new bands by
a college roommate. One of the
bands, Caedmon’s Call, was unlike most other bands that were out at the
time. Their music was an eclectic mix of
acoustic, rock, ballads, and included both male and female lead vocals. Looking back at
early Caedmon’s Call, I am not sure if the band was shaped by Derek Webb’s
presence, or if Webb’s involvement in the band helped to shape him as the solo
artist he would become. In either case, what
I have seen from Webb over the past nine years has worked for me.
There are some artists who make a shift artistically, and
leave you wondering what they were thinking.
Webb, while continually stretching himself and reinventing his art, has
always left me looking back thinking that he was able to pull off what few others
would have been able to. Whether it was
going from being a young man who didn’t sway too much from his Caedmon’s Call
roots, in She Must and Shall Go Free,
to a seasoned artist who isn’t afraid to take risks, as seen in Stockholm Syndrome and to a lesser
extent this new album Ctrl, Webb
doesn’t seem content with making music to just sell albums. He is an artist first, and a marketer
second. Or, as Webb said himself several
years ago in the song “Zeros Ones”, he’s “a prophet by trade and a salesman by
blood.” Webb goes beyond entertaining his listeners, and his music encourages people to think. Few artists are able to pull this off, and Webb makes it into an even more elite club of artists who do it effectively.
Having spent a couple days with Ctrl now, I will say it is an album that will likely take a little
time for some to warm up to. Webb
returns to a more acoustic sound, while interweaving drum machine beats that
were the driving force on much of Stockholm
Syndrome. What is likely to take
some people time to adjust to is the addition of Sacred Harp backing vocals. The addition, which at times is sampled, makes
its way into most of the songs on the album.
As one who was not familiar with Sacred Harp, at first listen the vocals
seemed out of place and somewhat distracting.
However, after a few times through the album I was coming around to
enjoy the artistic addition.
Ctrl is best
described as a mood album. From start to
end the album has a tone it sets, that keeps me coming back for more. You can get a a three song sample of the album for free on Webb’s creation,
Noisetrade.com, but I would
encourage you to go to Webb’s website and
spend nine dollars to experience the album in its entirety.
