Katie Herzig - Hologram - God's voice in a song about a screwed up relationship

Before we left town for Aunt Bea's funeral, my new edition of Paste arrived. It was from July - which apparently comes after August in the music magazine world - since I've had the August issue for several weeks? Anyway, I hurriedly downloaded the CD onto my IPOD so I could check out the new stuff on the long trip. Overall, I was pretty disappointed. It was quite a let down for me after the international issue, much less diverse and fresh and more predictable.

However, one song in particular really captivated me. Katie Herzig's "Hologram" was vocally intriguing. It is rare for a vocal to really grab my attention since I tend to pay more attention to instrumentation. The last female vocal to really snare me as a fan was Norah Jones - honestly - how sexy can a voice be? Katie Herzig was intriguing and interesting, but not in the sexy Norah Jones style.

"Hologram" is a song about an absolutely screwed up relationship. Some of the lyrics go like this, "I'm gonna let you down, toss you around.... Oh, if you don't want me, though, I fall in love with you more....I fall in love with hard to get... It's a virtual reality....I'm in a love affair without a love song....I'm in the habit of having what I don't want....I'm just a hologram."

So I'm listening to this the second time when God showed up - talking in my head like a music critic hanging out over a cup of coffee at the local coffeehouse show. "Don't you identify with that?" My incredulous response, "Are you serious? I've been faithfully married my entire adult life." God, the music critic, "No, that's not the truth that's in her words that I want you to hear." So I replayed the song a second and a third time before I heard the truth that God was talking about. Katie Herzig is singing about a messed up love relationship - but her words are easily a very apt description of our pursuit of the American dream. (Yes, I know it's a leap, but that's the way God and I work. - that's why the blog is called "my random thoughts".)

Follow me here - "I'm gonna let you down, toss you around".....sound familiar to anybody? Does life ever do this to you? "If you don't want me though, I only want you more" - Does this not describe our constant quest for the approval of the people around us? "A virtual reality" - that's what we chase after - the "Good Life" ....The next line is where God broke my heart, "I'm in a love affair without a love song." Millions of people are loving things and people and are totally empty and dissatisfied because they do not know the only Love Song, the Savior. "I'm in the habit of having what I don't want." We get new stuff, then want something else. "I'm just a hologram." empty - needing the Love Song to fill us up - to overflow out of our life.

Now, I am aware that Katie Herzig probably had no intention of any of this, but God certainly used her words to convict me of the emptiness that fills our world and the desperate need to live a life filled with the Love Song and to share Him with our friends, family, and neighbors.

For you other music fans, and those of you who also subscribe to Paste, some artists I was also interested in on this CD:

*The Boxmasters - yes, I do not like country - AT ALL - And really - Billy Bob Thornton - please... put me out of my misery...but the song, "The Poor House" made me laugh - the whole working on a plan to pay the bills - and screwing it up every step of the way - absolutely!

*My morning jacket - "I'm Amazed" - worth a second listen.

*My Brightest Diamond - "Inside a boy" - unique

*Hayden - "Where and When" - a nice horn interlude

*Priscilla Ahn - "Dream" - my 2nd favorite on this CD - I really liked this one.

*Daniella Cotton - "Bang My Drum" - I did listen to this one the 3rd time awhile ago.