Rilian

Ok so I have never been a big fan of Christian music. Don't get me wrong, I am a born and raised Catholic, but there is something that gets me about people trying to push their religion on me... and that's what I feel like it does sometimes. It's good in church, or maybe to listen in your own personal time, but I have never been crazy about the idea of it becoming mass distributed. However, there are situations where it has done well for itself... but I feel only because the lyrics can be tied to other life situations outside of Christianity. For instance, P.O.D., big time Christian band, but when you read some of their lyrics, it's not Jesus this and God save me that... I feel it to be better that way. Someone's relationship with God is a personal thing, but to make it easy for people of other religions to listen to... it has to have some other appeal.

Anyhow, now that I've dropped some antics on you, I am about to drop a Christian band right on top of that. Knowing what you know now about my skepticism for Christian music, you can easily understand why I wouldn't recommend just any Christian band. Only something that would have a mass appeal, and seems to keep that relationship on a more personal level instead of pushing it on everyone else.

The name of the band is Rilian. It's primarily one extremely talented guy with the help of a couple others. I am not sure what the band's standing is at the current time; to me it seems this guy (Jared) has a lot to say about his life choices and is over-flowing with emotion in an artistic manner... so he is letting it out, but I don't know what his plans are as far as finding some permenant band members. It says on his MySpace that he took part in developing Anberlin and you can definitely hear much of that in his current music production through some of the breakdowns and a lot of the vocals. Listen to "Love Song." It is amazing, one of the best songs I've introduced my ears to this year. If this band finds some stable ground, I think Jared and whoever he finds to make final home of Rilian would definitely have a great future in the industry.

Anyways, as always I encourage you to take a listen. Click on the name of the band and it will take you to their homepage. If you enjoy a bit of indie/alternative, this ought to tickle your fancy. Enjoy :-)