Counting Stars… by Andrew Peterson

I do not consider myself to be a connoisseur of fine music. I am certainly not fit to write reviews of a musical work. I cannot properly explain the way music sounds or the ways in which it can move a man. That being said, I am going to go ahead and try any way.

On Tuesday, July 27th, 2010, Andrew Peterson released his album Counting Stars. Those who know me well know that I have been a fan of Andrew Peterson for quite some time. I frequent a blog of sorts that he began some time ago, and I have frequented it since he first began it. It is called The Rabbit Room, based on the room of the same name that The Inklings frequented in a pub in Oxford. While I wouldn’t equate the gathering of minds at the online Rabbit Room to those that were brought together in Oxford, they are certainly making a mighty fine attempt.

Any way, back to the album. When I listen to an album, I often try to find an overriding theme to it, one that begins and ends with the title. In the case of Counting Stars, I find myself coming to Genesis 15:5 (a quote that appears in the liner notes of the album).

God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
– Genesis 15:5

And that is what this album is about… family. God promised Abraham that his offspring, his family, would one day be as numerous as the stars. Although a man may not find his offspring to be as numerous as the stars, if you look for it, you will find a great treasure in your family. It is far too often that we overlook the blessings we find at home.

I’ll not go through the songs on this album one by one to explain how I get this feeling from it, but I will touch on three in particular. First is God of My Fathers, the song which actually contains the words “counting stars”. Songs can mean so many different things to different people, so I’ll merely post a snippet of the lyrics so you can perhaps read into it what you will.

• Now we’re counting stars and counting sand
• Little feet and little hands
• We’re counting joys
• We pray you’ll know them
• As you knew us when you wove us
• As you hold us
• Hold them, please hold them

Another song which I find rather poignant to the overarching purpose of the album is Planting Trees. While the words, I suppose, seem to be about planting trees, personally I don’t think that is what it’s really about at all. I think it’s all about raising children. I base those thoughts on this verse from the song:

• So sit down and write that letter
• Sign up and join the fight
• Sink in to all that matters
• Step out into the light
• Let go of all that’s passing
• Lift up the least of these
• Lean into something last:
• Planting trees

And on this verse from Proverbs:

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
– Proverbs 22:6

And finally, the last song I’d like to touch on is Dancing in the Minefields. This song is all about marriage… and well, it’s just fantastic. I think it’s a really touching homage to marriage. Oddly enough, it reminds me a lot of the Disney/Pixar movie Up. Perhaps reading this review over at The Rabbit Room will explain something about how a cartoon makes me think of marriage (and make sure you read through the comments). Any way, for the song, check out this video.

If you’d like to purchase the album, you can find it here on Amazon, or over here at the Rabbit Room store.

Matt’s Rating:

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Matt Thiessen and… Katy Perry?

So, last month I went to a concert in Columbus, Ohio. Relient K and Paramore were playing at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion. I’m a big fan of both Relient K and Paramore, so I was all about heading down there for the show. Matt Thiessen, Relient K’s lead singer, introduced the song “The One I’m Waiting For” by saying, “This is a song about Katy Perry.”

Now, I found that somewhat interesting. I mean, if you don’t know anything about Katy Perry or Relient K, it might not mean much. Relient K is a relatively popular band in the Christian music market. Katy Perry sings songs about kissing girls and liking it. Why would Matt Thiessen write a song about Katy Perry? What was going on?

I had happened to stumble across something before relating Katy Perry and Matt Thiessen, but I didn’t think too much about it. On Kelly Clarkson’s newest album, the song Long Shot was written by Matt Thiessen, Katy Perry, and Glen Ballard. Okay. Odd. But still. He writes songs (and Kelly Clarkson doesn’t). Big deal. Kelly Clarkson seems like she might ask for his help and ask for Katy Perry’s help. She has a clean image to uphold, so she could like his work, but she’s also a woman who might like Katy Perry’s input as well.

As it turns out, you can find a video of Long Shot on Youtube, as performed by Katy Perry before it was recorded by Kelly Clarkson. And there’s this fellow playing the guitar in the video who looks an awful lot like Matt Thiessen. And she’s singing to him and looking at him like he’s more than just a friend.

A little research into the subject turns up a lot of surprising information that I simply wouldn’t have expected based on what I’ve heard from Katy Perry on the radio and in the news. She has changed quite a bit. In 2001, Katy Hudson, the daughter of a preacher, released her solo debut on Red Hill Records. It flopped pretty badly. She then changed her name to Katy Perry to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson, and was signed to Island Records, where she worked with Glen Ballard, writing songs including Long Shot, but was dropped from the label before releasing anything. It was during this time period that she was apparently dating Matt Thiessen of Relient K, as the song he mentioned at the concert (“The One I’m Waiting For”) was released on the album MmmHmm in 2004. In 2005, she was signed to Columbia Records, and shuffled around for years without a major release until she was dropped from Columbia, signed with Capitol Records, and put out her popular album, One of the Boys (2008).

They broke up years ago, but they apparently still talk and have worked together recently (scroll to the bottom for the quote), and he has been mentioning her at his concerts and in interviews recently, which can be seen in the following video from approximately 3:35 to 4:55.

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