Music Reviews – “Stockholm Syndrome” by Derek Webb

Everybody serves and follows something  or someone.  The problem most people have with Derek Webb’s music is that it asks uncomfortable, pointed and sometimes even insulting questions of us (who say we serve and follow Jesus) about who and what we really serve.

Stockholm Syndrome is without a doubt Webb’s most uncomfortable line of questioning to date.  Whether he is asking us (and himself as well) “What Matters Most” with regards to homosexuality or exploring our relationship to “The State” or considering our expectations of the Godhead or whether he is begging us to really love the unclean, Webb intentionally strikes very sensitive nerves in the American psyche.  He is not a songwriter disposed to holding back lyrical punches.  Simply put, his music intentionally hits where it hurts.

As for the title, “Stockholm Syndrome” is a “psychological response” of abducted hostages when they begin sympathizing with their captors.  This abduction has many forms in American Evangelicalism.  Whether it be captivity to government, political parties, causes or a safe Jesus of our own making, we have sympathized with and have identified ourselves with our captors.  Even more damning, the real irony is that this captivity is often voluntary to begin with it.  We create false gods and christs that we feel we can easily manage.  The result is willing enslavement to our false and dead idols.

All of us have blackened eyes.  We would rather pull out everyone else’s specks rather than remove our own logs.  We would rather self-righteously condemn the homosexual than repent of our own sexual sins, and in repentance love fellow sinners.  We would rather identify ourselves with political parties than humbly serve the One who reigns over God’s Kingdom.  We would rather enslave ourselves to a manageable Jesus rather than submit to the Lion who is Good, but who is most assuredly not safe.  We would rather be wooed by the party-boy Jimmies of the world rather than with brokenness be won by our faithful Bridegroom.

Still, even if we assume the best of us, we are still more concerned with doctrinal, moral, ethical, philosophical and political precision than with love.  Like the church of Ephesus, we have left our first love and we have impugned Christ’s Name, spat upon His Bride and kicked the unrighteous in our self-righteous pride.  Christ told Ephesus that if they did not repent, He would not permit them to be a Gospel Lampstand.  Should we expect any better if we do not repent for our sin?

Is Webb and this album preachy?  Yes, he (and it) is.  Are his albums edifying?  Not directly, and only with much effort on the part of the listener.  Are his words and questions hard?  Yes, and we’re better for it.  Is he a flawed man and musician?  Without a doubt.

But, is Webb becoming a left-leaning moralist, the opposite side of the pharisaical coin he’s been singing against since his days with Caedmon’s Call?  I don’t think so.  Watch the video from the Blood:Water Benefit Concert (at The Oaks Fellowship in Red Oak, Texas on July 10^th, 2009) for a likely answer. (review continued below)

Musically, many have questioned Webb’s choice of experimental electronica for this album.  Personally, I think it works.  It is not extremely catchy and it is definitely a far cry from “Lover”, “Thankful”, “Saint and Sinner”, and “A Savior on Capitol Hill”, but it works for the subject matter.  Experiencing the roller coaster ride of being taken hostage, fearing for your life, and coming to sympathize with your captors cannot be pleasant and the music of Stockholm Syndrome reflects that.  More impressively remarkable still, is Webb’s ability to move from folk acoustic bluegrass to experimental rock to musical minimalism to classic rock to experimental electronica.  He might not be the master of any of these stylings, but he is pretty darn good at all of them.  Perhaps even more impressive, he can perform any of the songs from his previous albums and styles in a live set, with just him and his guitar and still put on a great show.

Lyrically, Webb is still at the top of his game.  He is direct and pointed, but he is also able to write the most cerebrally intellectual lyrics of almost anyone in the world of “Christian music”.  His employment of multiple dualistic comparisons to flesh out his subject matter is thought provoking and fully engaging.  Even his harshest critics must admit, I think, the stimulating nature of his craft.

One final note and aside: I think that Webb’s music is understood best when coupled with the music of Andrew Peterson.  Both musicians bring to mind the late, great Rich Mullins and both take parts of Mullin’s art and make it better.  I do not believe that either can put it together individually as artistically and as genuinely as Rich did, but both artists, Webb the “preacher” and Peterson the “poet”, considered together are truly special.

In conclusion, Christ will preserve His Church.  Webb knows and believes this.  Yet, he asks us to ask ourselves hard questions within “American Christianity”.  Are we truly working out our salvation with fear and trembling, loving others and repenting of our sin before God, or is it possible that many of us are as lost as those we seek to condemn?  May God give us Grace to answer that question rightly.