Jesse Lacey of Brand New
Recently when picking up a friend, I was listening to Brand New's incredible 2006 album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. The second track on the album, "Millstone", includes one of my favorite lines on the entire album:
"I used to sleep without a single stir/Because I was about my Father's work."
My friend riding with me looked surprised and asked, "When did Brand New become a Christian band?" The term was certainly used in an insulting tone, to show that bands that openly addressed religion, God or Jesus was considered seperate from respectable secular music. And this was a Christian speaking.
But lead singer and lyricist Jesse Lacey has always been pretty open about the perspective he's coming from. His religion, or at least religious history, is vital for his lyrical voice. He shows a Biblical literacy that dwarfs several of his indie rock compatriots. The very title of "Millstone" is a reference to the 17th chapter of Luke; the song itself is a confession of sorts, Lacey openly pondering how he got to the sinful place he sees himself at:
"I used to pray like God was listening/I used to make my parents proud/I was the glue that kept my friend together/Now they don't talk and we don't go out/I used to know the name of every person I kissed/Now I made this bed and I can't fall asleep in it."
The clear indication here is that Lacey believes that he's fallen too far. In the chorus, he speaks of the classic "Ship of Fools" sinking, with him aboard and the allegorical millstone around his neck. He cries out for someone to save him so that he can live, but feels drawn down by his own sin. Its a song that is crying out for redemption. The fact that it is followed on the album called simply "Jesus" is no accident.
Of course, on an album with a title like The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, religious subtext (or blatant references) are to be expected. But Lacey has been making Biblical allusions his entire career. Brand New's first album, Your Favorite Weapon, features a song called "Seventy Times 7". The song is about an experience where Lacey, betrayed by one of his friends, cannot find it in himself to forgive him. While the song certainly doesn't extol any Christian values (not that any Brand New songs do; they are certainly not evangelical), the title and the one line:
"They say you need to pray if you want to go to Heaven/But never told you what to do if your whole life's gone to Hell"
let the listener in on the joke: Lacey is releasing what he views is righteous anger against his brother (what he calls in the song his "best friend") without sinning. The end of the song even has Lacey relishing thoughts of his best friend's death:
"So have a few more drinks and drive your home/Hope there's ice out on the road/And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt/And again when your head goes through the windshield."
Lacey's religious moments are tense at best. He is caught between a desire for redemption but an awareness of his own shortcomings. In the song "Degausser," he questions the dimensions of grace, wondering if with all of his sins if he can really be forgiven. It is equal parts yearning and fearful. In the final climatic moments, after all of the screaming and anguish, a single tinny voice rises, as the music starts to fade:
"Take me, take me back to your bed/I love you so much that it hurts my head/I don't mind you under my skin/I let the bad parts in, the bad parts in/Well you're my favorite bird and when you sing/I really do wish that you'd wear my ring/No matter what they say, I am still the King/The storm is coming, the storm is coming in"
At first blush the line is easy to read about a girl, especially seeing how it is Lacey who's singing still. But if your perspective is slightly skewed, and you imagine a second voice coming in:
"Take me, take me back to your bed/I love you so much that it hurts my head/I don't mind you under my skin/I let the bad parts in, the bad parts in/Well you're my favorite bird and when you sing/I really do wish that you'd wear my ring/No matter what they say, I am still the King/The storm is coming, the storm is coming in"
Remember that bed and sleeping has already been used as a metaphor for the anxiety and guilt that Lacey feels for his transgresions. In this interpretation, the finale of the song is not a plea for a woman, but rather an assurance of pardon (the ultimate desire of the first four tracks of the album) and a loving word. While this interpretation may be wishful thinking, I also find it very powerful and fitting with the rest of the album. It is a final word of hope, which everything before it is searching for.
