Bellows

In the 19th century, American Transcendentalism split with Unitarian Christianity over the issue of miracles. To the Transcendentalist, the mere existence of theistic miracles acted to alienate humanity from the innate miracle that is life itself. God, it was said, is self-evident in nature. The (at the time) mainstream Christian God was understood to perform miracles that went beyond the rules of the world. To the Transcendentalist, this notion was monstrous. It served to alienate humanity from God by making God something apart from nature, and humanity.

When I listen to Bellow’s As If To Say I Hate Daylight, I think New England Transcendentalism. The album is Sufjan Stevens by way of Thoreau, with delicate verses atop intricate guitar, punctuated by wild yelps that cry out to the forest sky. The delivery channels the intimacy of Elliot Smith, but without Smith’s overbearing sorrow. You detect neither anger at the past nor anxiety about the future. Instead, you get the wonder of the now. The miracle that is birth, of love in relationships, of friendship among peers where no one else has rank or title over the other. Of the difficult process that is growing into manhood. 

I found this album on the web portal bandcamp.com, which is the closest thing to you can get on the internet to standing on a sidewalk, singing a song, and passing around a hat. Artists can give away their album away for free, or charge any price they want, or make payment optional. In a way, it’s very much like the Transcendentalists, the precursors to those who describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious,” who felt that they didn’t need built-up institutions to find spiritual fulfillment. I find the site quite liberating. Because just like how the Protestants eventually developed institutions to rival the old Catholic institutions they rebelled against, so too has the Indie world developed its own gatekeepers: Matador to rival Interscope, Pitchfork to rival MTV, operating in the same channels, UPC labels stuck on plastic wrap touting a score of 8.7.

The album ends with the song “I Am Building a House.” Because every rebel eventually realizes the need to construct his own institution, his own home. And so life experiences become the brick and cement which we construct around ourselves. Yet, the house is built to fall. Salt is not applied to the foundation. Eventually ice will develop and it will all collapse. And then you will be free. When more people tear down the walls that separate them from one another, then true friendships can be had, true relationships experienced. God in the Now. Transcendence.