00:00:04
um to to an extent learning learning how
00:00:07
to produce and learning how to
00:00:08
articulate the sounds that I wanted to
00:00:11
through some of the happier songs
00:00:13
through some of the cheerier sounding
00:00:14
songs so songs like from Eden uh someone
00:00:17
new or jackm Wilson they I had a lot of
00:00:20
learning to do there because I I kind of
00:00:23
it's a very for me it's I don't know I
00:00:24
think it's a very different process with
00:00:27
with happy siging songs and one that I
00:00:29
didn't have a lot of experience with
00:00:31
would take me to church I just I who
00:00:34
would think that the person behind some
00:00:37
of the most gorgeously jolly and
00:00:40
pleasurable pop music of the last decade
00:00:42
would be so damn tired I mean H's music
00:00:45
is in every coffee shop we walk into
00:00:48
every high school girl falls in love
00:00:49
with him it's easy to see him and his
00:00:51
music is just another Starbucks drink
00:00:54
Taylor Swift yeah yeah no there is
00:00:57
there's some kind of f some fun stuff
00:00:58
obviously that doesn't not all of them
00:01:00
are as dark or or as heavy sub as heavy
00:01:04
dealing with the subject like to take me
00:01:06
to church say um and there's there's
00:01:08
humor in it too so there's kind of a I'd
00:01:10
have I'd have a pretty dark sense of
00:01:11
humor but there's there is humor to even
00:01:13
the the sadder stuff I think something
00:01:15
like in a week even so which is about
00:01:17
two people rotting in a field I think
00:01:19
there's a there's there's a certain kind
00:01:21
of humor I think that there's you know
00:01:22
what I mean Irish people are fantastic
00:01:24
at looking at tragic things in a
00:01:26
wonderful way and some sometimes there
00:01:28
some examples of that on the album I
00:01:30
hope yeah she's giggle at a funeral yeah
00:01:32
exactly yeah yeah let me get this out of
00:01:35
the way H's personality and presence in
00:01:38
his music is unlike anybody else his
00:01:40
ominous vocal licks the soothing Reverb
00:01:43
he throws over abstract electric guitar
00:01:45
strumming and the sharp edge to his
00:01:47
piano passages are all cornerstones of
00:01:49
his Charming yet dark style I really
00:01:52
wish this had more influence on the pop
00:01:54
scene maybe it doesn't because it's hard
00:01:56
to execute this cavernous sound not only
00:01:59
as well but as organically as hoser did
00:02:01
on his first album but if you'll take
00:02:04
just a second and look a little bit
00:02:07
deeper with me I think this project
00:02:10
reveals some of the most demonic
00:02:12
disturbing truths about human desire and
00:02:14
love and the thing about it is there's
00:02:17
nothing pretty about that relating to
00:02:20
someone who can't even relate to his own
00:02:22
song's light-hearted sounds is something
00:02:24
that no person should have to go through
00:02:27
but when we look at the true meta
00:02:29
narrative in your self-titled project
00:02:32
the man has been through it all and see
00:02:35
that's why abuse is so pervasive it
00:02:38
hides in the most ominous of places the
00:02:41
seductive beauty of infatuation the most
00:02:43
innocent manifestations of love and it
00:02:46
uses that desire for love to abuse us
00:02:50
and there are no two greater ways to
00:02:53
experience love than through romance and
00:02:57
church take me to church huge amount of
00:03:00
of references to religiosity I'd say in
00:03:03
take me to church I think I was using a
00:03:05
lot of that language as a way to use a
00:03:08
language against itself sometimes a
00:03:10
culture or an oppressive idea in culture
00:03:14
is so pervasive and is so widespread
00:03:17
that even li even expressing yourself
00:03:19
against it or liberating yourself
00:03:21
against that it's so ingrained in the
00:03:23
language and it's so engrained in the
00:03:24
culture that you are forced to use that
00:03:26
language to even express yourself
00:03:28
against it and so that was kind of the
00:03:30
idea with with that take me to church is
00:03:32
such a booming powerful sounding song
00:03:36
that the true artistic potency of its
00:03:38
writing became lost in its shadow as it
00:03:40
launched hoer to startom the song is
00:03:42
certainly a 2010's classic but the
00:03:44
bitter critique of society's reception
00:03:46
to the lgbtq upsurge is way too
00:03:49
overlooked hoer is instantly upfront
00:03:51
with his views and the subject matter he
00:03:53
would bring to the table on this album
00:03:55
and we don't know it yet but he's
00:03:57
flipping his own concept on its head
00:03:59
before we even know what it is yes he's
00:04:01
throwing the church under the bus here
00:04:03
but the song isn't inherently about
00:04:05
religious organizations they're just one
00:04:08
of the culprits in a broader phenomenon
00:04:10
the track addresses because it's very
00:04:12
poetic text um yeah I mean the song is
00:04:16
it's a love song I suppose so it's um
00:04:18
but I think it's it's it's about the
00:04:20
experience of loving someone and the
00:04:22
experience of of of you know yeah of
00:04:26
loving somebody and and looking at that
00:04:27
as a very as a very natural thing one of
00:04:29
the most natural things about The Human
00:04:31
Experience and one of the few wonderful
00:04:34
things you have to look forward to as a
00:04:36
person and um it it it so it's take me
00:04:39
to church as kind of um an allegory I
00:04:41
suppose for for you know for sex or love
00:04:44
making and it's also about those
00:04:47
organizations that would teach people to
00:04:49
be ashamed of those certain aspects of
00:04:50
themselves so um certain church doctrine
00:04:53
that might say discrimination based on
00:04:56
on gender or sexual orientation gender
00:04:58
inequality or the idea that you know
00:05:01
even just a child being born is
00:05:02
something that is sinful and needs to be
00:05:04
forgiven so and in in in those in that
00:05:07
regard I think it it undermines
00:05:09
fundamentally a very natural part of a
00:05:11
human experience and what it is to be a
00:05:13
human being and so it's kind of a
00:05:15
reflection on that and and I suppose in
00:05:19
a kind of a tongue-in-cheek way it's
00:05:20
kind of you know electing a new form of
00:05:22
something that you can is something
00:05:23
that's tangible and something that's
00:05:25
worth giving your life to which I think
00:05:33
the way he says take me to church is
00:05:35
kind of sarcastic you know like he's
00:05:39
using it as a joke or
00:05:44
[Music]
00:05:51
something verse one is an excellent
00:05:53
illustration of what it feels like to be
00:05:55
someone who has been rejected by a group
00:05:57
of people for something that is natural
00:06:00
to them one of my favorite lines goes
00:06:02
every Sunday is getting more bleak a
00:06:04
fresh poison each week which is an
00:06:06
illusion to how you go to church on
00:06:07
Sunday to hear teaching that should be
00:06:09
lifegiving and helpful but instead hoer
00:06:12
and his lover are cultivating an
00:06:14
increasingly morbid picture of their
00:06:16
lifestyle since the fresh poison he
00:06:19
refers to is that teaching describing a
00:06:21
new way that he's a heathen we'll say
00:06:24
it's an excellent illustration of where
00:06:26
the disconnect arises going to church is
00:06:28
nothing but life dealing for them
00:06:30
everything they're hearing doesn't
00:06:31
represent the love they came to receive
00:06:34
it's just being reinforced every single
00:06:36
weekend with condemnation but the
00:06:38
sickness he was born with is the only
00:06:40
true happiness that exists in his life
00:06:43
and so why why would we do anything
00:06:46
except run when the only thing that
00:06:48
awaits us from the institution is
00:06:52
[Music]
00:06:58
vilification that line is so interesting
00:07:00
to me I'll tell you my sins so you can
00:07:03
sharpen your knife I mean in churches we
00:07:06
believe that all have fallen short right
00:07:08
and the more we fall short the more it
00:07:10
reveals God's capacity for grace and
00:07:12
love so if we truly believe that someone
00:07:15
is screwing up in their life shouldn't
00:07:18
it make our knife doer shouldn't it just
00:07:21
make us more inclined to be welcoming
00:07:24
and loving and to wrap our arms around
00:07:26
them to show that our care for them is
00:07:27
greater than our preconceived notions
00:07:30
I suppose
00:07:32
not there's no greater insult in the
00:07:34
Bible than to be called religious and
00:07:37
that's still true
00:07:38
[Music]
00:07:48
[Music]
00:07:51
now Jesus went to the mountain of olives
00:07:54
and early in the morning he came to the
00:07:56
temple and all the people came to him
00:07:58
and he sat down and taught them the
00:08:01
scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a
00:08:03
woman taken part in adultery and when
00:08:05
they set her in the midst they said to
00:08:07
him Master this woman is taken in
00:08:09
adultery the very act Moses and the law
00:08:12
commanded us that such should be stoned
00:08:16
what do you say this they said tempting
00:08:18
him that they might have to accuse him
00:08:20
instead Jesus stooped down and with his
00:08:22
finger wrote on the ground as though he
00:08:24
didn't hear them when they continued
00:08:26
asking he lifted himself up and said to
00:08:29
them he who is without sin Let Him cast
00:08:32
the first stone and again he stooped
00:08:34
down and rode on the ground and when
00:08:35
they heard him being convicted by their
00:08:37
own conscience went out one by one
00:08:40
beginning at the eldest until the
00:08:42
youngest and Jesus was left alone the
00:08:45
woman standing in his midst when Jesus
00:08:48
lifted himself up and saw none but the
00:08:50
woman he said to her where are your
00:08:52
accusers she said no man Lord and Jesus
00:08:55
said to her I don't condemn you either
00:08:58
go and sin no no
00:09:00
more we tend to cast a lot of stones you
00:09:05
know I mean anything that's different
00:09:07
from us that makes us uncomfortable we
00:09:10
attack it and it's worth asking the
00:09:13
question of why our first instinct is to
00:09:15
destroy rather than
00:09:19
[Music]
00:09:26
understand so of course the only true
00:09:29
end to this tale is a severance of any
00:09:32
connection previously possible between
00:09:34
hoer and the institution these lines
00:09:37
that end the last verse are a primal
00:09:39
illustration of Breaking Free of
00:09:41
religious bonds and reclaiming your
00:09:43
Humanity hoer describes the people being
00:09:45
thrown out of the church as eating the
00:09:46
high horse of religion which is to say
00:09:49
that they conquer the people's judgment
00:09:50
and use the remains of their ideology to
00:09:53
nourish their new one destroying the
00:09:55
high horse would nourish so many it
00:09:57
would fix so many people's lives and yet
00:10:01
we're
00:10:02
scared at least I'm scared to challenge
00:10:07
such longstanding and well-established
00:10:09
perspectives I think that's why this
00:10:11
song sounds so Primal the language on it
00:10:15
worshiping like dogs illustrations of
00:10:17
starving outcasts sharpening a blade at
00:10:20
the altar while the outcast is on their
00:10:22
knees seeking
00:10:23
forgiveness just to destroy them with it
00:10:26
there's something demonic about
00:10:28
complacency but it's not grandiose only
00:10:32
a revolution can sound as dramatic as
00:10:35
[Music]
00:10:37
this when the ritual
00:10:40
begins there is
00:10:43
noet in the
00:10:48
s in the madness
00:10:51
and
00:10:53
[Music]
00:10:55
of only then I am human
00:11:00
[Music]
00:11:04
the bridge is so unclear it's so open
00:11:07
for interpretation that I can see
00:11:09
infinite practical scenes he's
00:11:11
describing but I think the
00:11:12
open-endedness was intentional to either
00:11:15
depict the outcast winning this eternal
00:11:17
battle or the complacent it all hinges
00:11:20
on what the ritual is referring to if
00:11:22
the ritual is the knife finally being
00:11:24
sharpened and destroying the born
00:11:26
sickness in him that's how he's cleansed
00:11:29
from their perspective cleansed by death
00:11:33
and destruction the sweet innocence of
00:11:35
his gentle sin was his undoing and the
00:11:38
sad Earthly scene is the destruction of
00:11:40
the outcasts will the complacent wipe
00:11:42
the blood off their knife and to them
00:11:45
it's the only way to make him clean or
00:11:49
in another reality the revolution does
00:11:51
take place there are no Masters now
00:11:54
because the outcasts have had enough
00:11:57
they've used their knife against the
00:11:58
complacent and stuck up for their
00:12:00
sickness once and for all they've
00:12:02
finally broken free of their bonds and
00:12:04
partaken in gentle sin so finally once
00:12:08
and for all they've reclaimed their
00:12:10
humanity and live freely I guess the
00:12:13
question is which one of those two took
00:12:18
place there's something else that Jesus
00:12:21
said something that if you're a
00:12:23
Christian like me I want you to hold on
00:12:26
to some Pharisees and teachers of the
00:12:28
religious La now arrived to see Jesus
00:12:31
they asked him why do your disciples
00:12:34
disobey the age-old tradition they
00:12:36
ignore our tradition of ceremonial
00:12:38
handwashing before they eat Jesus
00:12:40
replied and why do you by your
00:12:43
Traditions violate the direct
00:12:44
commandment of God God says honor your
00:12:47
father and mother and anyone who speaks
00:12:49
disrespectfully of their father and
00:12:51
mother must be put to death and yet you
00:12:53
say it's all right for people to say to
00:12:55
their parents sorry I can't help you I
00:12:57
vowed to give to God what I would have
00:12:59
given to you in this way you say they
00:13:01
don't need to honor their parents and so
00:13:03
you cancel the word of God for the sake
00:13:05
of your own tradition you Hypocrites
00:13:08
look if there's something that makes you
00:13:10
uncomfortable because you don't agree
00:13:12
with it or because you think it's wrong
00:13:14
it's not an excuse for condemnation I
00:13:17
think that Jesus would want us to
00:13:19
welcome these people who so many would
00:13:21
look at and treat as lesser than whether
00:13:24
that's a social class or sexual
00:13:25
orientation a lifestyle Choice whatever
00:13:28
your belief fun how the best way to live
00:13:30
your life is should never matter more
00:13:32
than loving
00:13:34
people and it's that
00:13:36
simple hey all I hope that you enjoyed
00:13:38
this video I just wanted to pop in and
00:13:40
say that this is just the first few
00:13:42
minutes of a very long commentary on the
00:13:44
entire album I've made a much longer
00:13:46
40-minute video that covers every song
00:13:48
and the concept of H your self-titled in
00:13:51
detail and I have to say I really liked
00:13:53
making this one I'm not sure when or if
00:13:55
I'll release it publicly but if you want
00:13:57
to get early access to the video and
00:13:59
hours of additional content I'd
00:14:01
encourage you to please go join my
00:14:02
patreon Linked In the description it's
00:14:04
the community that keeps my channel
00:14:06
alive so if you join you'll be
00:14:07
contributing to these Channel survival
00:14:09
and success I also make content based on
00:14:12
my patreon subscribers recommendations
00:14:14
so you'll be able to influence what I
00:14:15
make in the future with that said thank
00:14:17
you guys for doing that and here's the
00:14:19
intro to the rest of the
00:14:21
video so a lot of my regular viewers
00:14:24
know this but I'm a church kid I spent
00:14:27
my whole life being told that I'm called
00:14:29
to love live a life of self-sacrifice
00:14:31
that I could never possibly live up to
00:14:34
I've learned since I was a baby that I'm
00:14:35
to throw myself under the bus for the
00:14:37
sake of loving others and yet the church
00:14:40
is known as one of the most judgmental
00:14:41
groups of people in America if there's
00:14:43
one thing we learn from the Bible it's
00:14:46
that your beliefs don't matter your
00:14:48
political opinions are irrelevant our
00:14:51
only priority is making the person
00:14:53
across from us feel valued and wanted
00:14:55
and yet so Many religious people have
00:14:57
done everything in their power to make
00:14:59
lgbtq people unseen to make them feel
00:15:02
worthless to make them feel like they
00:15:04
shouldn't have rights it's horrible I'm
00:15:07
not taking a theological or political
00:15:09
stance when I say this believe me I just
00:15:11
care about sticking up for people who
00:15:13
feel
00:15:14
marginalized and I think that hoer does
00:15:16
too the ultimate irony of Take Me to
00:15:19
Church in context with the album is that
00:15:21
it describes what people usually refer
00:15:22
to as an abuse of love when it's just
00:15:25
natural for so many you want to see what
00:15:28
a real twisting of Love looks
00:15:31
like well have we got a show for
00:15:36
you my and boyf toying somewhere between
00:15:42
love and abuse hoer Wast no time
00:15:46
introducing us to the greater concept at
00:15:48
hand so I won't either the album is in
00:15:51
so many ways a project about dichotomy
