NOTE:
It is interesting to see how our perception of different things change as we go through life. Today's post is not your typical iNR. If you didn't know, iNR stands for imaginationNERD Review. Today, the 'R' also stands for revisit as I will be revisiting the focus of this post. There is no previous review, as I was not writing or recording reviews in 2005 when I first experienced this piece of media.
The Hope Dialect is an album released by the rock band Greenwood in 2005. The band later renamed themselves to Hope Dialect. The band was comprised of Art Wong, Allan Wong, Tyler Malone, Noel Clark, and Jesse Florida. The band only made one other EP before they went their separate ways. They did come together for a reunion concert in 2012, but not much has been shared since.
I was about twelve/thirteen when I heard them play in a small church auditorium. It certainly wasn't what I was used to hearing in any church auditorium at that point in my life. But I loved it. I bought this album at their concert. They signed it. I still have it and periodically listen to it on my drive to work - as that is the only truly fuctioning CD player I have anymore. I don't know that I could have told you what it was that I connected with as an early teen when I listened to their music. I remember there being aline in one of the songs that my group of friends and I found funny. The line? "I just want to drink my apple juice". It still makes me smile as it brings back fun memories.
But listening to these lyrics as a thirty-something is different yet the same. It's different because I have a different understanding of the lyrics. It's the same because I mostly feel the same as when I listened to these songs as a teen. There are certain songs I certainly listened to more as a teen, and there is still that strong connection now. I may not remember which lyrics resonated more at the age of 13, but I wanted to share some that I do remember and the lyrics that resonate with me now at 30.
Save Me
connected with at 13 lyric: Is this what they call falling? If they speak at all.
connected with at 30 lyric: If only the world could see inside my head. They'd know I'm trying. If only the wings in dreams were real. I might be flying.
Nostalgia
at 30 lyric: And I am silent to the memories of my mind.
Sing Alleluia
at 30 lyric: sing alleluia, find the rest that you now seek.
I cannot tell you how many times I listened to try to pick just one lyric from this song - hence the collection. The section of the song this lyric comes from definitely hits me in a different spot as a thirty-something who has been a Christian for over twenty-years. In this world where it feels like rest is impossible; God offers it.
Arms of My Father
at 13 & 30 lyric: Father free me from the questions I am asking. Nothing new beneath the sun.//
Not you or your arguements, not even me. Nothing can tear me away from the arms of my Father.
So. many. lyrics. that have been screamed over the last decade-ish. The burning desire to be free of all the questions that exist, but concerned that the questions will "be the final straw". But knowing that there is nothing that can separate you from God once that relationship exists.
All I Ever Wanted
at 13 lyric: This is the song that contains the line that my friends and I found to be so funny. It that is simply because it seemed so random. To an extent it still does. "I just wanna drink my apple juice"
at 30 lyric: the beauty of the moment, why can't it last forever
Prom Queen
at 13 & 30 lyric: Don't let them make you. Don't let them break you. Don't let them keep you searching, researching for. Don't let them. Deny you of all that you are.
This one has always been my favorite on the album. I think part of it is because it related to what I was seeing around me with my peers, but I think another part of it is because it reminded me to value myself. As you can see by the lyrics I still very much connect with, it's important to be careful who you allow the privilage of holding influence. Sometimes that influce can create so many questions that you can forget yourself. Whether or not that was how they intended the lyrics, that is how I always heard them.
Burn
at 30 lyric: away from here, away from pain, unto a loss that's somehow gain
I'm Yours
at 13 lyric: I fall down in silence and I don't know where I've been, but I need you there, I need you there, I need you there again.
at 30 lyric: I wrestle with my angels and I struggle with my past
My lyric for my thirty-something self I think is something that most of my peer circle can connect with. There is a phase, I think, we go through where we wonder and dwell on what has happened. Questioning if we are a "good person" and all that. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It's through the wrestling that we grow.
I'd also like to point out the lyric that notes two separate events in history - Auschwitz (holocaust) and Columbine. It always brings a small pause when I hear it.
This is certainly an album of my youth that I whole heartedly recommend you check out their bandcamp page and give a listen.
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