Context or Out of Context: Kill the Alarm's Fire Away at a Christian Festival?

Written on July 28, 2007

Context. Listening to music in a certain context flavors the music in ways never intended by the artist. The right context can make a country song seem like a barn burner rocker. Set in a movie or in the soundtrack of your life, a song can become about a good time had by all even if the original meaning was about something far more serious.

Here’s my context on July 28, 2007: The National Youth Gathering of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Actually, the morning of the day of the evening when the event starts. I’m catching a couple of hours of quiet alone time before being with 26,000 people coming together to share in God’s love.

That’s my context, and into that setting, my earphones are cranking the tremendously engaging, nearly Emo rock of Kill the Alarm. I have no sense whether Garen Gueyikian and band are Christians, but today as I listen to their album, Fire Away, I can imagine they are playing at the Gathering.

Gueyikian has a great voice that ranges from rock shouts to falsetto cries to pure pop, and Jon Kaplan’s production work at the board keeps Gueyikian’s vocals on top and in the center of the mix while the band throws down the slam downs that could otherwise take priority. In that sense, it sounds like the production found on most Christian bands of similar style.

Beyond the sound suggesting that Kill the Alarm is playing a Christian youth conference, there’s also the way Gueyikian’s lyrics grapples with life—asking questions and not just living a rock ‘n’ roll dream.

“Sit Up” talks about confessing and being lost before the chorus says, “Sit up, I’m not leaving, I believe I will live up to what I’m singing now.” Self-discovery and self-improvement on “No More Excuses” (“To find myself inside myself and make myself somebody I like”) leads to a chorus leaving open the door for a bigger question (“I pull myself to pieces, I don’t think I’ll make it back/Fall onto excuses for mistakes made in the past/I try not to believe the little part of me/that says I threw everything away.”

If this review just turned out to say that Kill the Alarm’s Fire Away sounds like a Christian band, just remember it is all about context. It could just be about the fact that the line up at the National Youth Gathering includes some bands in this same musical vein (Rough Draft, After Edmund, Remedy Drive).

Regardless of context, though, Kill the Alarm provides some new energy in the Emo world with enough growl, heart-on-sleeve, and guitar wall.

Thanks to Kill the Alarm and Kiqstart Music for the review CD.