GospelbeacH – Let It Burn
“So the music helps, it’s everything. That’s why the album is called Let it Burn because you let those feelings burn. You don’t let the good stuff burn, you let the bad stuff burn.”
When I interviewed GospelbeacH’s Brent Rademaker in July, he described Let it Burn as less PCH and more Sunset Boulevard. Let it Burn is the darker side of Hollywood – a drive after leaving a show late at night, past shady figures walking down the boulevard, but then up to Mulholland to watch the light break over the Santa Monica mountains – a beacon shining in the distance.
The tone of the record has certainly changed a bit, but the music is still the golden-era radio rock GospelbeacH is known for. Brent’s powerful lyrics and crystal clear vocals are accompanied by Neal’s soulful guitar solos, emphasizing both of their intuitive abilities to listen and serve the song. Neal’s solos lift you up out of the city streets into the sea air, surfing in the clouds beside him. After a few more somber tracks – “Dark Angel,” “Baby (It’s All Your Fault,)” the album really picks up halfway through with songs like “Unswung” and “Nothing Ever Changes”- the hope surfaces and your head starts boppin’, and you can imagine the band in the studio exchanging grins and thinking, “man, this is fun.”
This album’s timing is.. well, what hasn’t been said? A record about redemption in the face of heartbreak and loss; punctuated by the death of a founding member. I think Brent describes it best, “It’s pretty plain that it’s about loss and breakups and heartbreak. But there’s a lot of redemption there…I think it would have been hard if it was all just despair.”
This album is the one we need this year, right now. GospelbeacH’s music has always been a light, and although this record delves a bit more into the dark side than seasoned GospelbeacH fans may be accustomed to, ultimately anthems like “Fighter” are the songs that we’re going to keep in our hearts to keep us going on. Let it Burn is a chiaroscuro, highlighting the fact that in the saddest, lowest points in our life we have to continue to look for the bright spots.
Let it burn when you listen – feel the pain, then let it go. During this tragic time in our collective lives as a musical family, there’s got to be a silver lining in there somewhere. Let It Burn urges us to dig deeply as well to find it- a reason to keep playing, keep singing, keep listening, keep loving and keep living.
