Cipher

Cipher

It’s been tempting to view Slim Cessna’s Auto Club as a punked-up satire of backwoods Christianity. But beneath the group’s antics on their 2008 album Cipher, a palpable spiritual angst can be discerned. Cessna, long-time cohort Jay Munley and the rest of the Auto Club crew take religious faith seriously enough to mock it, berate it and rip it nearly to shreds. What emerges from their rambunctious mix of speed punk, acoustic folk, lounge jazz and old-time gospel is one of the most confrontational Christian rock albums since Daniel Amos’ Bibleland. Ominous lyric motifs (including sheep, hooks and iron braces) reoccur amidst skewed narratives (“All About the Bullfrog In Three Verses”), revved-up square dance numbers (“Ladies In the Know”) and mock-metal eruptions (“Red Pirate of the Plains”). In “This Land Is Our Land Redux” and “Americadio,” Cessna mercilessly tears into American decadence and imperialism. He especially draws blood with “Children of The Lord” and “Jesus Is in My Body - My Body Has Let Me Down,” a pair of slashing jeremiads not for the theologically squeamish.

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