Brave Saint Saturn
If you’re a fan of Christian ska (a surprisingly large sub-genre!), then you are probably well familiar with Five Iron Frenzy. Hell, if you just like good music in general, you may have come across them. And if you’re even slightly enamored with Reese Roper’s ridiculously fun songwriting, you would likely be interested in his other bands. There’s a few, but Brave Saint Saturn is definitely the best of them, having actually released two full-lengths.
There’s no ska at all, or even horns. Instead, we get bells, guitars, and some synthesizers, to create a sort of space-rock to go with the running theme of space travel – they use it to draw parallels between the loneliness of space and the loneliness of trying to find yourself. Quite a bit more serious than FIF, they manage to strike a lot of chords, both figuratively and literally (haha, worst sentence I’ve ever written on here!).
They also are a lot less subtle about their Christian leanings than FIF, which might put some folks off. Regardless! There are some excellent tunes, and you don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the messages they send.
From The Light of Things Hoped For
Enamel – (MP3, 3.3 MB)
The Sun Also Rises – (MP3, 3.0 MB)
Heart Still Beats – (MP3, 4.2 MB)
From So Far From Home
Two-Twenty-Nine – (MP3, 8.2 MB)
4 Comments
I really liked So Far From Home, especially “Resistor.”
There was sposed to be a third album: whatever happened with that? The concept was first album; away from home in space, second; coming back home, third; back home, or something like that from memory.
Five Iron would great not just at christian allegory but political debate.
Too bad Reese Roper mellowed out.
I only recently got a hold of So Far From home, and somehow it just hasn’t really caught on with me as much as their last one did. Probably will, given some more time though.
I don’t know about a third album; haven’t heard a thing, but it definitely would be excellent if they do get together and do it.
And yeah, FIF had some awesome lyrics all around, from politics to social commentary to just goofing off. I really wish I could’ve seen them live sometime.
wonderful stuff. “daylight” is a masterpiece. says reese on the in-progress 3rd album: “IS there still going to be a new Brave Saint Saturn album? – Yes. It is still in the works, but not with the backing of any record labels. Dennis and I are slowly making it happen and we want it to be the best ever, so we are taking our time. Please be patient.”
hint: new album out