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Since the monumental success of The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot has been dogged by many questions.  I have mine, as many other fans have their own.  I wonder…

(1)     …did anyone else notice how often Switchfoot’s name came up in the payola scandal that has rocked the radio industry?  I never knew this group of Christian musicians would be mentioned in the same breath as Mariah Carey and Britney Spears so often.  When their follow up, Nothing Is Sound, was noticeably less-successful no one was asking the (to me) obvious follow-up:  How much of their success was bought, and how much was earned?

(2)     …will the band ever satisfy that (ever-shrinking, thank God) portion of the Christian music public who want more explicit declarations of the band’s Christianity?  Ever since Switchfoot started off, they have delved into more artistic lyrics that address social issues and everyday life, more than taking the evangelistic stance practiced by the rest of the CCM industry.  I think moving on to major (secular) labels has been a boon to the band, allowing them to face less scrutiny from their labels, even when some portion of their fan base is still wanting a “Jesus” anthem from the band.

(3)      …how well the band will continue to strike the balance between “popular” and “artistic”?  The band has long had songwriting that was interesting and different, while still relying on pop formula that allows for hits.  Their early work benefited from a veteran of this dichotomy, Charlie Peacock.  They were pushed and stretched within the confines of a 3 minute song, first by Charlie, then ultimately by themselves.  Can they keep their core sound (and fan base), while exploring new ideas and styles musically?

I really can’t answer the first question.  I am not an insider, nor have I tried to research the answer.  It really is a shame that Switchfoot would be involved in such a mess (though I am not alleging that the band themselves had any direct knowledge of this).  I have never met anyone who disliked “Dare You to Move” or the band’s sound at that time.  By way of contrast, I knew many who easily dismissed so many pop starlets whose names were tied into the payola scandal.  So, by my estimation, Switchfoot’s acclaim was well-earned, even if all of their radio play was not.

As for the answer to the second question would be two-part: (1) I hope not, and (2) I t would seem that the band agrees with me.  Jon Foreman’s lyrics still seek out social issues (often America’s materialism, and its impact on our souls), non-specific spirituality (the need to awaken to truth is addressed in “Awakening”), and human emotion (“Head over Heels” is indeed about love, while “Amateur Lovers” is about our human struggle to love one another).  The lyrics often match the tone of the song and are very often a highlight.  One exception is “American Dream,” where the line “When success is equated with excess the ambition for excess wrecks us” doesn’t fit well with the bounciness of the pop-punk tune.  It seems forced in place, probably due to the confines of the song’s structure.

How does the music hold up?  Very well, actually.  The band bounces back from the more downbeat Nothing Is Sound.  The band has a strong group of songs:  both the rockers and ballads feed on the bands strengths.  They still take enough left turns to be alternative, with the songs still retaining a strong sense of rhythm and melody.  The band adds dabbles of punk & college-radio ready jangle.  It is just enough to be creatively interesting, without changing their basic sound.  Fans of both the band’s early and more recent days should be happy with Oh! Gravity.

Oh! Gravity. finds Switchfoot still riding the crest of the wave.  They are still at the top of their game lyrically and musically.  I, for one, am glad they are engaging our culture and creating strong albums.

By Jonathan Nelson
1/1/2007

When I hosted my radio show Switchfoot were one of the most regularly played bands. High energy, radio friendly, lyrically clever, and that spiritual content, that sat beautifully in my raison d’etre, somewhere between Radiohead and All Star United. Oh Gravity is more of that same successful formula that brought us Beautiful Letdown and Nothing Is Sound and then some. The new twists see it all start with the rawness of The Clash on the title track, then a Ryan Adams intro to Dirty Second Hands and Sean and Sara Watkins, from blue grass superstars Nickel Creek, guesting on "Circles." 

Singer and main lyricist Jon Foreman has always been an observant commentator of culture. Here the American Dream gets a cutting critique.  There’s even a song of that title here where he nails it good, “Is it true, would you do what I want you to/If I show with the right amount of bling/Like a puppet on a monetary string/Maybe we've been caught singing/Red, white, blue, and green/But that ain't my America/That ain't my American dream.” Foreman has a deft touch of poetic articulation. He stands out among his peers. It is another of those qualitative things that raises Switchfoot above the competitive bar. Faust, Midas and Me shows his intellectual bent and the song is a study of wealth and their seduction and their bondage before the rediscovery of the joy of ordinary life’s routine. Everywhere else you look the contemporary ailments of hype, hedonism, success and materialism are all pounding a captive relentlessness and tied to the dirty second hands of the old clock they thieve our souls. The clock and time and deadlines are particularly on our tails on these songs. The general is then dressed in the specifics references to the environs of his Californian home. 

Where the questions are to be asked about Foreman’s songs are about his depth of message and variety of subject. Too many choruses echo the mantra of their break through song "Meant To Live" from two albums back  - “I want to wake up screaming and kicking,” ("Awakening") ““I want to live and die for bigger things” ("American Dream") and “then before I die/I want to burn out bright” ("Burn Out Bright"). It makes you ask how impotent a three minute pop song ca be? In having to confine the impact to a catchy refrain do we limit the chances of going higher, wider and deeper? It would have to be said that Derek Webb’s work and Jars of Clay most recent album are packing more in than Switchfoot. And then of course there are U2 and Sufjan. Switchfoot have perhaps taken one step out of the narrow confines of CCM but they seem to be standing still just now and need a great leap forward to set themselves up as the inheritors of U2. 

It is a niggle. And yet songs like "Amateur Lover," the poignant Yesterdays and the big ballad ending of "Let Your Love Be Strong" hint at the ability to take that leap. This is another major work for Switchfoot but more thought needs to go into the next one

Steve Stockman

Steve Stockman is the Presbyterian Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland, where he lives in community with 88 students. He has written two books Walk On; The Spiritual Journey of U2 which he is currently updating and The Rock Cries Out; Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music. He dabbles in poetry and songwriting and he has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Ulster (listen anytime of day or night @ www.bbc.co.uk/ni/religion/rhythmandsoul). He has his own web page--Rhythms of Redemption at http://stocki.ni.org. He also tries to spend some time with his wife Janice and daughters Caitlin and Jasmine.