In a fragmented culture hooked on the fragmented expression of TikTok and YouTube Shorts, here’s why I am excited about a Christian album full of fragments.
Fragmented art is nothing new. In 1818, German Romantic painter Caspar David the Sea Friedrich painted Wanderer above of Fog, depicting a man with his back to us, gazing out into an infinite landscape of mountains and fog. In the 1830s, Chopin crafts a cycle of Preludes with no indication of what they are preludes to. In both cases, we are left to ponder the implied, vast, unknowable whole that lies beyond.
In a similar vein, Michael J. Tinker’s latest album Standing at the Corner of the Universe is a series of fragmentary vignettes, capturing an instant of the Christian life for our reflection. Each song deposits the listener in medias res (into the middle of things). Throughout the album, the listening experience is an exercise in allowing the mosaic to coalesce and let a bigger, deeper picture slowly reveal itself.
In every song, the lyrics are deeply personal, dealing with emotionally raw themes such as standing up to abuse, enduring the pain of miscarriage, but also witnessing the Northern Lights. As with much of Michael’s music, for both children and grown-ups, no word is out of place and rewards careful listening. Let me recommend listening with good headphones to capture the truly fabulous musicianship and production on this album; it is a rich feast for both the ears and the mind.
Like the works of the 19th-century Romantics, this album is suffused with a longing for – to quote one of the songs – “whispers saying more than this world can bear”. It is an album that meets our culture in its fragmentation and brokenness and extends a warm invitation to look beyond. But where the Romantics saw only tantalising fog, Michael raises our eyes to ponder our vast knowable Father God.
Sing UP!
What is your church like at singing?Anecdotal evidence and the lived experience of many would seem to suggest that …