It’s a sonic surprise that Derek Webb’s gone glitchy and electronic on his latest, Stockholm Syndrome, but not a conceptual one. Like a lot of his solo work, besides being pretty catchy, the new sound makes a socially conscious point—with intelligence and bite. Namely, that people—especially religious people (whose blind spots he often critiques with an insider’s knowledge and care)—can get too cozy with harmful ideologies. (He addresses homophobia in an electro-pop track kept off the official version of the album, but offered free-of-charge on his website and MySpace profile.) Synthetic sounds—in lieu of warmer folk-pop textures he’s favored—drive home his conviction that these mindsets are alienating. As the mastermind behind Noise Trade, the giver of some 80,000 free downloads and the orchestrator of a massive USB drive scavenger hunt leading up to Stockholm, Webb’s also one of the most technologically savvy pop agitators in town.
Sat., Oct. 3, 7 p.m., 2009
Sat., Oct. 3, 7 p.m., 2009
Comments (0)