REVIEW BY
JACOB SAHMS
Further Seems Forever drives their new album toward clarity and revelation with lead singer Jon Bunch in Hide Nothing. Their alternative emotive sound rocks a bit in celebration and definitely rolls in the down swing of life and pain. This latest album by FSF rocks with some great lyrics and heartfelt searching, as the band longs for everyone to accept the peace that they dream for the future.
The images of light and darkness are exceedingly evident in the first few songs on Hide Nothing, as the band longs to wake up to the “Light Up Ahead.” The opening song begins with the cry to “Take this heart of darkness/I give it up/All the emptiness/You fill it up” and continues throughout to implore this ‘you’ to provide the meaning for life that the singer lacks on his own. The title track melodically states that life is a journey that we participate in and fail, but “love lights the way to the last day” seems to be the punch-line to a song that proclaims cyclic living in repetitive phrases.
Someone has fallen out of the reach of the singer in “Already Gone,” but the loss is not something that has been resolved and healed yet, as is exhibited in the repetitive refrain. The song searches for reunion and hopes against reality for some triumph to come from the singer’s efforts to save this person. “Like Someone You Know” finds the singer watching someone fall from grace again, noting the loneliness after their loss, and pointing out to the listener that it really could be someone personal to them. These songs seem to reflect on a loss of faith by someone else, watched by a friend or loved one who feels helpless to stop the recess of faith, and pained even more by self-inflicted guilt. The emphasis on “Like Someone” is not the initial loss but rather an indictment of other people to get involved in holding onto the people they know.
Second chances are explored in “Make It a Part,” where everyone seems provided with them, but few people actually accept the forgiveness that is provided. “Love is coming,” sings Gleason, and it won’t let you die alone, try alone, or cry alone. From a Christian standpoint, the understanding is that hope in Christ will be fulfilled in the end and should be held onto, because love will bring resolution to relationships through eternity.
“Call On The Life” seems to pay tribute to the effect that living in Jesus can have on a person’s perspective, as Gleason sings, “By your eyes I can see/By your eyes I’ve got vision all around/By your voice I can hear/By your voice all the fear comes crashing down…By your heart I can love, whoa/To make me feel like I’m never coming down.” All of this is made possible by the “you,” who from examining interviews with FSF, seems to be Jesus Christ, as both God and human in one. Another contextual clue would be that in John 14:6, Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life—the life which is called upon to help the singer overcome his self-doubt and past regrets. These characteristics of ‘you’/Jesus are reinforced in “Lead the Way,” where Gleason sings that he is not above asking for help because ‘you’ has proved to be worthy of respect: “You come closer to me/Breaking through to you/And closer, hiding all/You know me better than I do/It’s better if you lead the way.” Only someone with intimate knowledge can know a person better than the person knows themselves.
Hide Nothing closes with the poignant “For All We Know,” where Gleason laments the coldness of a world without love but that he hopes things will get better. The reality of the world we live in is that it has very dark moments but that life is not without hope. As Christians, we must strive to be like Jesus, obedient even when it is uncomfortable, searching for light in all the dark places.
This seems to be the overriding tone of most of Further Seems Forever’s music—the world lacks love, life without love is joyless, but someday in the future, love will conquer all. In the emotive vein, the lyrics fit the music that they are laid down to in the album and the overall themes are reflective of the writings of David in the Psalms. The psalmist was often troubled and tormented, but he was always focused on the hoped-for future. The same is true today for us as we live out our lives. Darkness may cover over life for the time being, but in the end, love’s light will shine through and nothing will be hidden.
