Grace Hotel
  Overall rating: ++++-

Album Reviews

Derek Webb's second full album as a solo album has arrived! I made the mistake of ordering I See Things Upside Down online, and though it shipped three days before the street date, I didn't receive it until a full week later. I'm such a big Derek fan that that hurt. But it didn't hurt quite as bad as the disappointment I'm feeling now.

I See Things Upside Down is an OK sophomore offering, but it lacks the heart, profundity, and theological depth that Derek has made the hallmark of his music career, both in his 10 years with Caedmon's Call and in the nearly two years since. The album shows a great deal of experimentation -- in production and sound editing, in composition, and in writing. The result is something of a mixed bag, unfortunately one with more strikes against it than for it.

I Want A Broken Heart is a good start to the album. It has a slow melody and a memorable, singable sound. The lyrics are also excellent, and just what you'd hope for and expect from Derek Webb. But it also kicks off the album with jarring examples of Derek's production experimentation -- the album enters sharply in the middle of a sound, and exits the same way. The song, especially the end, is plagued with a series of unmusical sound effects and synthesized echoes.

Better Than Wine is one of the stronger tunes on the album, with Derek crooning a slow love song -- the chorus is "Better than wine is your love." It's a great sound, and something of a different sound for Derek. But it does suffer from the album's repetition problem. That chorus is simply repeated over and over.

The Strong, The Tempted, & The Weak also has a great sound, and thoughtful lyrics. I haven't dug deep into this one yet, but I expect it will be one that grows on me.

Reputation is a little disappointing. One of Derek's production experiments on this album seems to be "Let's sing it from the next room, and see how well the mic picks me up." The chorus is unsatisfying ("I've got a reputation with everyone, but I don't want one with you"). It's more repetition, and the song's lyrics seem quite shallow for this artist. The conclusion of the song also features an extremely jarring and out-of-place rock-'n-roll drum riff from someone who should be fired today.

I Repent was the little song that could have been really fantastic. Derek sang it on The House Show, a live performance compilation released earlier this year. Frankly, it sounded better there. Here it's sung from the other room, giving it a distant and hollow feeling -- on the one song where the listener really needs to feel a connection to the singer.

In this song Derek is in his mode of challenging the American church and modern, complacent Christians -- something he does quite well (it was the theme of his debut solo album, She Must and Shall Go Free), and a message that needs to be heard. But in this song, it comes across as petty and extremist, with the artist essentially apologizing for being a husband, a father, and a middle-class white person -- having a normal, unchallenged, and unimpoverished life. Yes, there is a valuable message underlying those words, which come out elsewhere in the song ("I repent of paying for what I get for free"). But he pushes it too far, in my opinion, and makes me wonder if his next album will be about slavery reparations.

Some things in our lives are simply blessings from God, for which we should be profoundly and humbly thankful, challenged to use our gifts for the betterment of others, not repentant.

Medication, once again, is a slow song with a good sound. But it falls somewhat flat because the lyrics seem so much shallower than we know Derek is. It's more a traditional, almost blues-style love song. "You look so good is hurts" aren't the sort of stirring words I expect to hear from this artist, but he certainly should feel the freedom to explore the corners of his art. Overall it's a good song, and one I expect to grow on me once I've lived with it a bit.

We Come To You is, again, slow. I'm waiting and waiting for a more up-tempo song on this album, which I know Derek can do and likes to do. This song seems pretty benign, not one that I immediately like or dislike. It is musically repetitive, and one I can imagine putting on when I want to take a nap. The last several minutes of the 8-minute song are instrumental, and extremely repetitive yet unmemorable. (This song was written by former Caedmon's author Aaron Tate.)

T-Shirts (What We Should Be Known For) ... I'm really going to have to keep listening to this one. I'm not sure I have anything to say about it.

Ballad in Plain Red is perhaps the most unique sound on the album, and it's one of those rare areas of experimentation on this album that seems to work. It's a little more up-tempo (but not a lot). The song also has something to say, though I'm sure how profound or important it really is.

Nothing Is Ever Enough is a very good song. It's very slow and thoughtful (again), but I've got to say -- Derek's least experimental, most traditionally Derek-like song is one of the best on the album. Again, though, the profundity of lyrics in past songs with similar themes is noticeably absent here. And the negative spin here makes it seem as though Derek isn't having a good time -- this does not have the fun of "Mistake of My Life," the thoughtfulness of "I Just Don't Want Coffee," or the deep passion of "Somewhere North."

Lover Part 2 is apparently a follow-up to a better song from Derek's first solo album. It has decent lyrics and an interesting sound -- again, slow and introspective, almost rock-blues. It's not just "mood rock," it's almost "moody rock."

What Is Not Love has some stronger, more significant lyrics than most of the album, but the sound is too benign and too much like most of the 11 songs that preceed it. It's a fine song on its own, in keeping with the message of the album that "the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." But as the finale of this album, the sound and mood make it blurs into the myopic whole.


Long-time Derek fans will want to go along for this new chapter in the artist's career. But I hope that I See Things Upside Down shows his willingness to experiment and see what works -- and get rid of what doesn't work -- rather than a new direction. Taking risks musically is great, and keeps every song on every album from sounding the same, keeps fans from chanting for more and more and more of the same. But when you take risks, be prepared to fail every now and again. If this album has an over-arching theme, it is one that is explored in a slow, plodding, almost depressed way, ultimately making it uncompelling.

It is also clear that Derek is suffering from a sense of his own responsibility to use his musical platform to issue criticisms of the church and contemporary, Western Christians. It was the entire theme of She Must and Shall Go Free, and strongly present in this album -- evidenced by the title I See Things Upside Down. If that's his calling, it's certainly a wonderful and a needed message; but the constant drumbeat, and the negative spin Derek often puts on it, is beginning to wear thin. Some of his music needs to be fun, and he needs to have fun doing it. That's not something I can hear in this morose album.

With two original projects now released, along with the last two Caedmon's Call albums, it is becoming clear that both can be good without the other -- but that they are much better together. Derek kept Caedmon's deep and reflective, and perhaps Caedmon's kept in check Derek's desire for off-the-wall experimentation and soapbox-ism.

~ Darren