The Living

The Living’s album, Healing Hands, is set to drop March 29, and today HM is proud to premiere the new single from the album, “Beloved.” The album will be the first release from the Atlanta-based band, formed in late 2015. We spoke with vocalist Grant Butler about the album.

“Our album, Healing Hands, largely deals with songs that lyrically express my longings and struggles to God, while in turn, He responds with truth, love and reinforcement of who I am in Christ. The song “Beloved” is approached just as passionately, but deals with a much different subject. (The song) is directed to women that are caught in the sex industry and how our society — myself included — have fed that industry. I came to revelation that these women need help, that they are lost and they need love. … Through this song, and this entire album, we believe God is going to catalyze change in someone’s life. Even if only one of our songs facilitates a meeting place for a single person, then we count all of our work as a worthy cause.”

The band will be playing an album release show in Athens, GA on March 19. - HM magazine

The Good: Although I am no longer a Christian, I still stumble across some good music in that realm of culture. Switchfoot still holds a place in my heart for being one of the bands that really got me into music, probably the first band I was truly obsessed with. Sticking to Christian rock tradition, The Living offer a few songs that take traditional church hymns like “Amazing Grace” and turn them into heavier rock choruses. This band reminds me of some of the more recent Jars of Clay albums with their usage of indie rock style guitars that are bright and aimed at twisting note playing to offer a celestial feel. Even if the listener is not Christian, there is something uplifting about the chord uses of the songs that makes each song both catchy and capable of uplifting the mood. The band uses both spoken word and a few additions of heavier shouting to splice up their array of musical tastes. Even if they lyrics won’t completely relate to a listener, it is still good sometimes to contemplate the state of human morals as an abstract idea, without paying attention to the actual material being debated in the lyrics. A person can listen to this and feel comforted in whatever issues they are facing, despite not agreeing with the singer’s point of view.

The Bad: Sometimes these songs remind me of my qualms with Christianity. First world people singing about first world problems or problems that Christianity invents that would make the world a lot easier if they were just ignored.

Would I Listen Again: Definitely - FIRSTHERD