Page France - Come, I’m a Lion!

The path that Page France currently walk was paved neatly by Sufjan Stevens: both are sweetly-toned, soft-voiced songwriters that sing unabashedly of faith and still garner critical applause. It’s fantastic to see Christ-followers journeying, and succeeding, outside of the Nashville machine. The critical success that these bands have achieved makes me wonder if Over the Rhine and Vigilantes of Love were ten years too early.

One thing is true: Page France craft great songs. Come, I’m a Lion! starts strong, and its first mediocre track is five songs in with “Rhythm”. And “Rhythm” isn’t a bad song, it just compares unfavorably to its predecessors, especially the pop sensibility of “Bridge”. Lead singer Michael Nau’s voice is alternately rougher and more palatable than Ben Gibbard’s emo whine. The second half of the album continues much the same way, solid songs dotted with soaring moments.

Beyond “Bridge”, the album’s best track is its closer. “So Sweetly Around Me” is a joy to listen to, beginning with the line, “I watched her sleep from the driver’s seat/And she turned into an ocean spitting fish into my sea/Oh how she flickered to remain so young and innocently sweet/And how the secrets in her belly wrestle softly for her keeping”.

Bands like Page France and songwriters like Sufjan Stevens sing of God and life eloquently and with unabashed beauty. It’s an utter joy to see bands stepping outside of that littered road of popular music with songs built on pristine and heart-swelling art, art that should be a byproduct of our relationship with Christ rather than despite it.

To close, here’s the final line of “So Sweetly Around Me”: “And if you talk to Jesus/Ask him if he wants me to come home/And if he says he sees us changing all of his plans to suit our own/Will you apologize or stand behind the selfish moves we’ve made/While learning life is strange and people change then circle around again.”

Amen.

Come, I’m a Lion!, Page France: A

Posted on April 1, 2006 12:00 AM