Josh Booth goes track by track though Take the Name’s newest release, “Against Such Things”
“This project: Against Such Things is the first of two EP’s. The second will be “There Is No Law.” The concept comes from Galatians and the Fruit of the Spirit. Each song represents a fruit (or characteristic).
The first track on this EP stands alone aside from a specific fruit. Be Free actually just sets up the project by speaking of freedom in Christ when we accept Him and what He did for us. The song represents us asking the Holy Spirit to come in and guide us. If we don’t accept this freedom, these characteristics would be hard to accomplish.
The second song, Hold Fast, represents faithfulness. I wrote this song thinking of my marriage, but made it not as specific so it can be related to by, hopefully, anyone. Whether it is a spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, brother/sister, a friend, or God; you want to keep your word and be faithful to those people.
The third song, Restore, represents gentleness. Galatians 6:1 talks about restoring your brother in a spirit of gentleness. This song is basically for everyone who has been there for me throughout my life. The thing I tried to make obvious in this song is that “the person” I’m talking about in this song is acting as if the Holy Spirit is guiding them. I talk about Christ-like qualities that this person is reflecting. Always love me… show me grace… always there! The point is that this person was practicing gentleness, from the Spirit, toward me.
The fourth track, Fruit (Interlude), is an interlude. lol. My wife attended, and is now an Admissions Counselor at, Mount Vernon Nazarene University. One of her professors, and now university chaplain, Rev Joe Noonen is speaking on this track. We asked him to go into a booth and talk about the fruit of the Spirit. He talked for 7 minutes, and we cut it to what you hear.
The fifth track, Hands, represents self control. In the beginning of the song I cover the struggle. The first chorus’ “you are beautiful” speaks of sin and temptation being, seriously, appealing to our flesh. As the song progresses I try to make the point that without the Spirit I would cave into sin. The last chorus’ “You are beautiful” is directed toward God.
The last track on the EP, Dives, (in a roundabout way) represents goodness, or lack thereof. First off, it is pronounced “DIVE-ease.” It is kind of a dialogue of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Dives is just another word for a very wealthy man and is often used in this story as “Lazarus and Dives.”
So basically, this song is a much different style of lyric writing. It’s a ‘story song’ but still performed in first person. So it doesn’t set itself apart in narrative form, but definitely in content. My vocal is from the point of view of Lazarus. I’m poor, hungry, and sick. I die and angels carry me to the sky. Then Nick Detty, from Wolves at the Gate, does guest vocals on this song. We didn’t write it directly from scripture… but rather of the regret of the rich man. So the song, in a roundabout way, is speaking of the lack of goodness that the rich man was an example of.”