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Someday Parish, the new project from Austin songwriter/folkster and McMercy Family Band member Ted Hadji, teeters dangerously on the line between subliminally spiritual folk rock, and Christian Americana. As a reviewer and connoisseur of modern trends in music, I don’t really have a high tolerance for the submissive and servile nature of Christian rock. To me, it seems less like art and more like trying to pander religion to a younger crowd that doesn’t really respond to the whole hymnal, mass/service tradition — but there are always exceptions to every rule. Hadji sidesteps many of those inclinations by taking momentary vacations from his religious focus to dwell on his own personal life, though it may not be enough.
Like the veteran storyteller he is, Hadji lays out the lyrical tone for Someday Parish in the first 30 seconds. “The devil wants to play nice,” Hadji sings over jangly electric guitar and accordion, “he’s caught in a game of chance with Jesus Christ.” Throughout the EP, there is the constant struggle between good and evil and how our own humanity can get caught up in the moral/spiritual tide. Album opener, “I Am Not an Animal”, merely lays down the bookends for Someday Parish’s religious expose.
Hadji continues on with his life examination always keeping an eye on the biblical context for sins of the modern day (“Brightly”), contemplating the ever-present subordination by those in power despite the fact that were all the same on an atomic level (“Killing Ground”), musing on his own human weaknesses (“Pagan Ancestry”), and the pains of love. The latter only comes into form on a few occasions—one of them being the soft-spoken and endearing “Crazy Legs”, which manages to remain on the secular side of things long enough show Hadji’s ability to write effectively about heartfelt emotion outside of a religious scope
If the lyrical aesthetic doesn’t lend too much charm to Someday Parish, not much was done on the music side of things to combat its lack thereof. The instrumentation is mostly finger-picked acoustic/electric guitars with a female backing vocal, and an accordion here and there, lending the EP a feeling that your local youth group leader recorded the whole thing with his Takamine Jasmine guitar. It helps to see Someday Parish as a autobiographical record of a young musician questioning his own spiritual placations — perhaps a “born again” sort of thing. While Hadji tends to use typical liturgical tropes to a fault on Someday Parish, and rely too heavily on a Christian bias, he manages to produce a seemingly heartfelt folk record with harmony and an arguable talent for songwriting — that is, if you can stand it.
Websites:
www.tedhadji.com
Myspace
This is a funny review. I have to say that the reviewer doesn’t know much about Ted or the McMercy Family Band (which is NOT a christian band). Just because a songwriter uses religious symbolism, doesn’t necessarily mean they are a youth minister, or even a christian for that matter.
“…rely too heavily on a Christian bias”
Hadji is not reporting the news, he’s creating music/art. Even if it was “praise & worship” music, it’s just as much of a valid art form as anything else being reviewed here. Is “Masters Of War” (Dylan) or anything by Radiohead/Arcade Fire less than art because of its social commentary and didacticism. I share with your tastes regarding church-y “youth group” music, but your choice to basically dismiss the album because of its religious subject matter makes me question which entity is actually biased here.
Okay…so sure Christianity has tendencies to castrate the music white people love…but this is Ted Hadji we’re talking about here which, believe me, is a different issue. Ted Hadji is nowhere near even CLOSE to being a youth minister. He is a dark and sinister weirdo with a sick and twisted mind and if I am predicting correctly, he is going to laugh his ass off when he sees this!!! Ted Hadji, who attempted to summon the devil in the sewer below the Dog and Duck! Ted Hadji who has to be held back from screaming “JESUS COME INSIDE ME!” at every opportunity!
Oh yeah and I think the song ‘Brightly’ is about raping. In no uncertain terms. Just short of saying rape rape rape.
I’m pretty sure that when the reviewer said, “the soft-spoken and endearing “Crazy Legs”, which manages to remain on the secular side of things long enough show Hadji’s ability to write effectively about heartfelt emotion outside of a religious scope,” he meant that the song was so beautifully awesome he couldn’t bear to call that trombone and those vocals anything near christian (which for the review seems to be synonymous with simultaneous.prune.vomit.crap). And, also, Brightly is pretty much the bestest song ever.
Hope no one was offended or anything–unless you’re Ted Hadji. I just thought it was a Christian album. The youth minister comment wasn’t meant literally, it was more of a metaphor for how the album made me feel as a critical reviewer.