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Album review: Seabird

Music

Seabird

'Til We See the Shore | 4 stars out of 5

Traveling with Seabird, we see a lot. The Northern Kentucky band's debut album is a journey from pain to ­victory, with strong images including the ­beginning of a long-delayed romance, a victim claiming victory, and a dying soul claiming its salvation.

And there is nary a moment that you don't know where you are on this journey, primarily because of frontman Aaron Morgan's theatrical voice and his equally evocative keyboards. They start off jaunty in the leadoff track, Black and Blue, but they become haunting and turn those rhythms into rings on Patience. Seabird is hardly a one-man band, though. There are touches, including a banjo intro that turns into a guitar riff on Stranger, from the rest of the ­quartet: guitarist Ryan Morgan, bassist Chris Kubik and drummer Aaron Hunt.

What's most striking about this exceptionally accomplished debut are the images, both precise and abstract. Cottonmouth (Jargon) is the best of the bunch, with defiant lyrics slowly rising in the midst of what sounds like a pump organ accompaniment. You listen, mesmerized, wondering whether this is drawn from a specific event or something general. Then you ­remember that ­songwriting is an abstract art, and you listen more to this package of 12 captivating songs, intrigued, hoping for more soon. It's a debut that already puts Seabird in league with some of Christian rock's most accomplished and literate acts, including Jars of Clay and ­Switchfoot.

Seabird seems as if it will be something to see.

Rich Copleyrcopley@herald-leader.com

Book

"The Gospel of Inclusion'

By Bishop Carlton Pearson. Atria Books. 275 pp. $24.

Pentecostal Bishop Carlton Pearson admits that he was nervous a few years ago, when he went public with his belief in the ”Gospel of Inclusion,“ that all mankind will go to heaven no matter what. But he's apparently over his initial anxiety, and now he wants to get the word out to everyone with, among other things, a new book, The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God and Self.

In it, Pearson — as he has done in ­numerous sermons and public appearances — explains his unexpected and eyebrow-raising move from a hard-line Pentecostal preacher to one who believes and teaches that God will accept anyone into heaven even if they don't specifically ask to go.

He writes about how wounded he was when friends in the ministry, and even members of his well-known Tulsa, Okla., church, distanced themselves from him. He also writes about how much better the world would be if other ministers of the Gospel would quit ­portraying God ”as an angry deity with a customized torture chamber called hell.“

Some of the criticism Pearson has faced has come from those who question how he could use the same Bible that talks of eternal damnation for non-believers to support his theory that such a place doesn't exist. But he contends that the ”Gospel of Inclusion“ is ”consistent with the words of Jesus,“ and it would be impossible to explain his theory — which he accurately notes is not new — ­without the use of Scriptures.

Depending on your religious leanings, or lack thereof, Pearson's book will make you think — or make you sick.

Selwyn CrawfordThe Dallas Morning News

WEB

www.stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com

Warning: If you haven't been ­reading this site since it began in March, you might get sucked in and find it hard to stop reading to catch up. Stuff ­Christians Like is a takeoff on the popular blog Stuff White People Like. Christian blogger Jon, a 30-something husband and father in Georgia, writes about everyday church and cultural experiences. In June, he often tackled ­vacation Bible school, dissecting themes, final performances, the number of children saved and the tough job of being a janitor. Recent topics included church camp, recalling his ­determination to kiss a girl in his own camp days and crying on the last night. Dig into the archives for posts including ”No. 202: Thinking Vegas is slightly worse than hell,“ ”No. 192: Using "love on' as a verb,“ and ”No. 53: Saying "I'll pray for you' and then not.“

Tyra DammThe Dallas Morning News