Strange Desire and the Mystery of Love in the Music of Bleachers
Exploring the themes of grief, hope and love in the music of Jack Antonoff's band Bleachers.
In this February episode of Risking Enchantment, Matthias Conroy joins me, after a five year absence, to talk about one of our favourite bands and albums, Strange Desire by Bleachers.
Bleachers is founded and fronted by pop-producer Jack Antonoff. While he is most famous for his work co-writing and producing the music of the likes of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and The 1975, Jack’s band Bleachers gives him the space to explore emotions and experiences close to his heart, namely love, grief, sorrow and hope. While in no way a Christian album, Strange Desire gives a depth of wisdom to the theme of love, allowing us to glimpse the Divine Love that lies behind it. Even the album’s title Strange Desire has an almost Augustinian quality, hinting at our restless hearts yearning for the world beyond our senses. In this episode we discuss and explore the themes of the album and show how we can encounter God in unlikely places in our life and in our culture.
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Listen to the full album of Strange Desire on Spotify below:
Some other key tracks discussed in this episode:
A selection of the live performances and interviews referenced in the podcast: