This blog is all over the place on Falling Up, but it pretty much states where I think the band has gone in their career.
What was Falling Up’s high point? Fans of the seven year old experimental /alternative rock group from Albany, Oregon may have more fond memories of the Falling Up’s debut Crashings, than band’s latest, Fangs.
The rock album that was Crashings featured big riffs along with some rapping (Most notably Paul Wright). The album also roped three number one hits on Christian rock charts with “Jacksonfive", "Falling In Love”, and "Broken Heart" (respectively) along with the single “escalates”. The almost generic rock CD was easy to understand with clear spiritual themes weaved in Crashings’ lyrics affirmed by Bible verse which painted an even clearer picture of what the band wanted to say. After that, however lead singer and song writer Jessy Ribordy decided to take the writing to a more science based level and contrast it to the spiritual plain.
Their sophomore album, Dawn Escapes, was a solid alternative album with slightly more obscure messages. However soon after the successful album came out in 2006, the now obvious key turning point in the band’s history occurred: Joeseph Kisselburgh and Falling Up separated ways. Reflecting on Kisselburgh’s departure Ribordy said ‘Joe was writing a bunch of songs on his own, and of course, wanted to do his own stuff… it just made sense for him to go his own way than try to balance two songwriters.’ But Kisselburgh’s influence on than band may have been even more than just songwriting. After the split (which left Kisselburgh to start his own solo project, The Send) it’s apparent that the music took a more ambient direction.
The remix album, Exit Lights, set the stage for the type of music Falling Up was going to run with on their third album, Captiva. Shaping the music around the keyboards rather the guitars for a more compact sound, it seemed that Falling Up had finally hit their groove with their solid alternative rock style (which included the hit single “Hotel Aquarium”). The lighter, more artist rock style resulted less in guitar riff-driven songs, but rather ‘open’ and ‘organic’ music as Ribordy described it. Although the lyrics were the most vague of any falling Up disc before it, the complex messages still referred to God clearly: ‘He is drawing near/Now salvation sings/Life that Jesus brings’ and ‘Is anybody out there, who's cold and incomplete, inside?/I can hear Him calling/Come and follow me, my child’ (“How they made cameras” and “Good Morning Planetarium” respectively)
Before Fangs, BEC Recordings released Discover the Trees Again: The best of Falling Up, which signaled the end of an era and ushered in a new chapter for the band. The need for a change originated from ‘loop aligned and distortion driven’ music that came from Captiva would change to even “more organic” style on Fangs according to Ribordy. The first two songs that were released, “ Streams Of Woe At Acheron” and “and Goddess Of The Dayspring, Am I”, both represented the bulk of the alternative rock displayed on Fangs along with being the pinnacle of radio friendly tracks which should be warning a warning sign to those who are fans of previous Falling Up rock tunes such as “searchlights” and the remix of “moonlit” remix.
Original fans of the group may not like the extremely light sound featured on more than a few tracks (“The Kings Garden” and “Swimming Towards Propellers” among the most notable). Speaking on the soft nature of the new sound, Christian music Zine predicted a split of Falling Up’s fan base saying ‘Some [fans]will finally give up on the band forever, while others will be entranced and in love forever.’
The albums title comes from what Ribordy calls “a very reaction-based record where something is always happening. Whether it be good or bad, it’s always significant.” What occurs in Fangs is a trend that might be starting to rear its head in Christian music. The idea of a concept album (a CD wrapped in one story rather than individual song meanings) seems a perfect fit for Falling up’s mysterious songwriting and vague, but accessible spiritual themes. Based on Ribordy’s unreleased screen play script Neptuenne’s Cavern, Ribordy explains that ‘journey into this world of fiction is very spiritual.’
However the ‘vivid metaphors’ that were supposed to ‘draw poetic parallels to spirituality’ to indicate lyrics that were ‘unquestionably anchored in faith’ got lost between advertising and Falling Up’s actual album when, in fact, Fangs is the band’s most obscure album (which is saying something). Biblical messages get lost in the main character’s journey to Neptuenn to find out who is responsible for the death of the children struck by golden arrows (an apparently important reoccurring theme in Fangs). Disappointingly no clear reference to God shows up any in one of the 12 songs on Fangs.
So far Fangs has reached the respectable position of #50 on Itunes and has received praise from critics. And why not? The album is an artistic audio masterpiece. However besides having the same band name and lead singer, the group called Falling Up who gave us Crashings, has little in common with the band called Falling Up who just put out Fangs. Ribordy likes to keep fans guessing, but how long do fans want to keep guessing?
Either way, three years later after his departure I’m starting to miss Joe Kisselburgh.
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