NEW MUSIC
SELECTIVE HEARING | Robert Berman
SKILLET BUDDY AND JULIE MILLER
Victorious Breakdown on 20th Avenue South
left Julie feeling sidelined, “adrift like a paper
cup in the wind” according to the title track
of this album which refers to their home. (For
the uninitiated, a bluegrass “breakdown” is a
solo virtuosic instrumental performance, but
of course the psychological crisis is very much
in view here.) Recent strains in their marriage
show in songs like “Everything Is Your Fault”
and “Unused Heart.”
But this is not a divorce album. Julie’s
contributions shine through more clearly than
they have in years on tracks like “I’m Gonna
John Cooper and team return to the power Rare is the Christian musician who enjoys near- Make You Love Me.” At every turn, Julie’s
chord crunching, fist-pumping sound that universal critical acclaim in the mainstream, pinched voice, seemingly unchanged from
worked well on 2016’s “Unleashed” album rarer still for two such musicians to live under thirty years ago, melds sweetly with Buddy’s
and Jen Ledger’s solo outing last year. Most one roof. Yet that remarkable circumstance is heartfelt rasp over electric guitars or mandolins.
songs fall into the categories of either confident the lot of this remarkable husband/wife team “War Child” sports martial percussion courtesy
posturing (“High above it all, victorious”) or whose every new project draws attention from of Steve Hindalong, one of the few guests on
desperate cries (“I hate what I’ve become.”) the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine and NPR. this home-recorded project-- but then, Buddy’s
Album opener “Legendary” adds industrial Roots music authority No Depression even basement is one of the most coveted studios
flourishes to its drop-D attack: “Destiny is recently published an essay by Julie about her in the nation. “Thoughts at 2.A.M.” plies in
calling, go down in history, every day I fight prayer habits! They must have some serious unabashed and eloquent worship drawn from
to be legendary.” Elsewhere: “Ten thousand artistic integrity for such unabashed faith to be Philippians 2 and Genesis 3: “Your enemies, so
enemies will wind up on their knees,” declares tolerated in the mainstream. And they do. fierce and cruel, will all bow down, and every
tongue confess your name… the cursed snake
the relatively sedate “Terrify the Dark.” But mid-
album, mid-tempo track “This Is the Kingdom” From their days in early 1980s Contemporary will lose effect, and God Almighty’s bride will
quotes the Beatitudes, reminding us that Jesus Christian trio Streetlight through Julie’s solo have her foot upon his neck.” Just, wow.
said to be first, put yourself last. Accordingly, career in the 1990s and Buddy’s intensely busy “Save Me” prays from a place of weakness, schedule as the go-to guy for Americana artists while “Reach” mourns a fallen friend. “Rise Up” of the last generation, the Millers cultivated an takes a shuffling page from “Atlas” by mathcore appreciative fan base, not least among musical band Battles. “Never Going Back” rolls along peers from Emmylou Harris to Robert Plant. on a fat synth bass. Fun. But Buddy’s work and her own health issues
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September 2019
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