Relient K

                                                                       

 

       The boys from Canton Ohio, in a short matter of time, have taken over the Christian music scene and are now locked, loaded, (with 5 members in the band) and seemingly ready to take over the world.

 

       The punk/rock quartet, turned trio, turned quintet, burst onto the radar in 2001 with their hit single 'Pressing On'. Their album The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, released the same year, began to get cult status with songs such as 'Sadie Hawkins Dance', 'Maybe It's Maybeline', and the acoustic anthem 'For Moments I Feel Faint'. Lead singer Matt Thiessen made known his quirky ability to write not only songs based on pop culture, but also sayings, catch-phrases, and words with double meanings.

 

       2003 Relient K released the unthinkable yet truly titled album Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do. So forth began Relient K getting legitimate CCM attention. More great lyrically delectable songs include 'Falling Out',  'Forward Motion', and the poetic 'Getting Into You'. In the fall of '03 Relient K released Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand, a 10 track Christmas album. It included some traditional favorites, and an awesome new original entitled 'I Celebrate The Day'. It is definitely one of the great songs that they've written, and this album is a must just from a creativity standpoint.

 

       The boys dropped their latest full length album to date on November 2nd 2004, simply entitled Mmhmm. Their lyrical content has noticeably changed on this album. It was a slow progression from the 2001 LP to supposedly take actually saying God out of their lyrics, to therefore not turn people away from listening to their music. So it is very Switchfoot esk in taking His name out of lyrics. Like I said though, it has been a very slow progression since there '01 album. They are simply trying to widen their fanbase to these who are turned off by saying God. You might call this selling out, I for one think it's quite crafty and a bold changing of imagination especially knowing their previous efforts had more God in the lyrics. However Mmhmm details a lot with songs about common issues and problems kids deal with everyday, and more importantly how to handle them. All in all it is a very good album, in which they get back to more of a punk feel rather than rock, while that was reverse for their previous release.

 

       Relient K's latest project is the Apathetic EP which is a 7 songs album released to capitalize on some mainstream attention that they've been getting these last several months. With songs as 'Be My Escape', and 'Who I am Hates Who I've Been' it's easy to see why they are getting some notoriety. Since their lyrics are very relatable, even if you don't like this kind of music too much, one of their songs could probably relate to you, because they write stuff that we've all (one time or another) been through.

 

       Relient K writes from the heart, therefore they connect with a lot people, which is what has given them criticism and what could make them such a mainstream success.