Skip to main content

'Forty Years in Babylon' by Paul Arendt: A Call to Return to Our Divine Roots


Forty Years in Babylon is a new concept album by Paul Arendt. This album is modern protest music with a mythic and mystical feel that is triggered by these maddening times. 

Paul Arendt - Theo

At its heart is the story of Babylon, the mighty city falling, from a modern American perspective. The project blends Joni Mitchell and Anais Mitchell's lyrical and poetic depth, Nick Drake's haunting beauty, and Tool's hypnotic force, guided by a busy and masterful Spanish guitar that often participates in the storytelling as much as the singer. 

Arendt wrestles with matters of the Spirit in an inviting and vulnerable way, and addresses topics such as social fracture, technology superstructures, the culture trembling and buckling beneath us, and our collective forgetting. The mesmerizing music blends whispers from India and West Africa, Bulgaria and Ireland, American heavy metal, and cross-cultural Blues, creating a unique style and innovative approach to playing the guitar. Arendt plays guitar with passion, tenderness, and precision. 

Arendt may be unknown to many because he lives quietly on an emu farm in Delaware, or maybe it is because he still uses a flip phone, but he is heading out to honor this amazing project. He tells his story like a novelist, with the urgency of a ringing phone. Forty Years in Babylon diagnoses a sick society and offers medicine, an antidote, and a reminder to break free from the forces that have captured us all and return to divinity and real connection in the middle of our superficial world. Heartfelt, artistic music is still around, but hard to find. 

This album's fourth song is called 'Theo'. The song is about a believer and an atheist who are having a lengthy conversation. After stating their cases, they agree to become friends. Other songs on the album are based on world music traditions adapted for the Spanish guitar, but Theo is more straightforward, rooted in cross-cultural Blues. 

Though difficult, it's fun to play, and a film crew filmed a barn live-take at Paul's farm. The YouTube video is also great to watch. You'll not only see Paul in action, but you'll also meet the goats and emus. 

These songs don't fit into a playlist model like most concept albums, but 'Theo' and the rest of the album are great to listen to stand alone. If you listen to the entire song (Theo), you'll hear a thousand non-repeating words and a captivating conversation between two people with different worldviews. 

We hope it makes you smile and encourages you to listen to the entire project. Paul adds, 'It is the finest thing I have to offer anybody, as I believe in every word and every note with my whole heart.' Paul has something to say, and we think you'll also like his innovative guitar playing.

Connect with Paul Arendt


You can listen to the track directly on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2m19KklyIHU6i47kIUUXCf

Here is a link to the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hx4DpB5tn8

Would you like to hear more CCM music? Then check out our Christian playlists on: https://www.christiandance.eu/playlists

Tags:

Popular posts

"I Will Rejoice" by Maria Segerholm: Thankful for the Sunshine and the Rain

Joy is a choice you can make today. “I Will Rejoice” by Maria Segerholm is a song of joy and praise, and her message is that joy is a choice despite the challenges we face. Maria has been called a happy person since she was a little girl. The unexpected happened, the trials came. Seasons arrived when her joy faded, and she says the enemy worked hard to steal her joy. Does that sound familiar? Those seasons didn’t last. Over the past few years, God has taught Maria what it means to rejoice in Him at all times, and this song, “I Will Rejoice”, grew from that lesson. Listen to how she sings it. Clouds try to block her light, yet she won’t stay down. Pain tries to break her praise, so she sings His Name. Fear shakes her soul, and she gives thanks “cause I know You’re good.” Notice the words that Maria uses: Clouds, pain, fear, and noise… They all “try,” but none of them win. Joy here is a choice that she makes again and again, long before her feelings catch up. The bridge pushes further....
More >>

"King Of All Nations" by Ezra Worship Initiative: Sing Today What Heaven Will Sing Forever

Your worship today echoes eternity. Ezra Worship Initiative trains young worship leaders through a ten-week, seminary-based internship. Their songwriters learn Scripture first and melody second. You can hear this in their latest release, “King Of All Nations,” a song written for congregations to sing. The song opens as a prayer: “May Your Name be proclaimed in all creation.” Who does the proclaiming? The Church does. The second verse asks God to “send Your Church to go and tell the gospel story,” which puts all who sing this right inside the request. Who on your street has never heard His name from you? Then the chorus lifts the roof: “All the honor, voices lifted to the King.” Worship here is not a performance. It is sung as a community, young and old, a multigenerational voice of praise. The bridge looks ahead. “All will come, and all will bow.” John saw the same moment: “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, stan...
More >>

"No Other Name" by Joakim Arenius and Josef Tingbratt: Hope That Outlasts the Darkness

Darkness grips hard, but one name holds harder. Where do you turn when your strength runs out? Josef Tingbratt and Joakim Arenius wrote “No Other Name” for that moment. Their song follows a man who is “Restless weary and alone,” “So many miles from home.” Inner voices that treat him unkindly. Then a night raid brings brutal violence: “They tried to break his body down, but they could not break his crown.” Notice what he does when “darkness gets its grip.” He calls Jesus: “Jesus, Jesus hear my cry.” No fancy words, just a cry. The song grew where two struggles meet. Some believers face ridicule or violence for following Jesus. Others fight a quieter battle with loneliness and doubt. Both struggles need the same answer. Peter answered the rulers who questioned him in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” He spoke with threats hanging over him. His confidence never rested on comfortable c...
More >>