Making Dens - Mystery Jets

Sarah van Delden | 6 June 2007

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From the mashed up sound teases of the intro track to the last track with its dissonant clashes of the piano, Making Dens is an eclectic bag of rich melodic and symphonic gems.

The spontaneous contrasts in dynamics and tempo, textured musical interludes and deep vocal harmonies persuades one to consider it in good standing within the progressive rock realm.

On Making Dens the Mystery Jets launch into the upbeat sounds of You Can’t Fool Me Dennis, a song that oozes with the mesmerising layered harmonies of father/son vocalists Blaine and Henry Harrison, a common feature throughout most of the album.

This track doesn’t wait around for those wishing to simply ease into the latest record as the quick rhythmic drum lines and catchy lyrics sweep you away on the alluring wave that is Mystery Jets.

You Can’t Fool Me Dennis claims “you can do anything you want, as long as it makes sense”. These lyrics tinged in post-modern relativistic undertones, are not foreign to our ears. A movement which says that each one of us create our own truth and the only person it has to make sense to oneself is all too familiar. It’s the old “if it feels good, do it” mentality.

In this song, Dennis is encouraged to embrace all that he is as a man. He is encouraged to experience the freedom that comes with being in complete control of his own life without having to justify his actions or their consequences to anyone else but himself.

As people who have true freedom in Christ, this should be hard to swallow. The very paradox of Christianity is that whilst we are no longer living in fear of the consequences of our actions and can literally ‘do anything we want’, we know this freedom isn’t a license to entertain our own selfish desires.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church he reminds them that whilst “Everything is permissible”, not everything is beneficial or constructive. “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” (1 Cor 10:23-24) In living by the Spirit our desire is to live a life that gives glory to God and this means denying ourselves and submitting to His way of living. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) As followers of Christ, this is the only thing that truly makes sense.

It would be easy to simply get carried away in the ebb and flow of the melodic journey that the Mystery Jets take you on throughout the album without stopping to consider the actual content of the songs. Keeping in the progressive vein, sometimes the lyrics appear quite fanciful and random. The seemingly nonsensical chants and heavy layering of percussion and synthetic sounds of Zootime could easily be passed off for being just that – random. However, whilst only containing five lines of lyrics, (one of which is entirely in German “Wir sind die Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo”,) Zootime, is in fact making clear reference to the story of Christine, who at the age of 12 was experimenting with drugs, such as LSD and by fourteen was a heroin junkie living at the infamous Zoo station in Berlin, forced into prostitution to pay for her drug addiction.

In 1981, her story was made famous by the feature film We Children from the Train Station Zoo. One can only speculate as to why the Mystery Jets chose to dedicate a track referencing this story, but the tragedy of the underlying biography can not be left without making comment in light of the hope Christ brings.

Hebrews 2 reminds us that Christ shared in our humanity “so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Heb 2:14,15) Not only that, but we’re told that Christ experienced the true suffering that comes with being tempted, and now we who face temptations can find help in him. For someone like Christine, who faced a dark hopelessness in her addictions the words of Jesus provide radical hope, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

The acoustic, gradual building and evolving sounds of Horse Drawn Cart have the essence of a rock ballad whilst the laid back, sometimes trippy sounds of Little Bag of Hair again represents the Mystery Jets ability to move through a wide spectrum of sounds and genres. Whilst each track boasts its own unique journey, this album seemingly gets away with pushing the very boundaries of what’s expected of modern pop and rock groups.

Making Dens seems to grow in depth and complexity upon each listening experience. It’s a delightful album which touches on some of the perspectives and ideals common in our society. It’s also a reminder that much of our society is still in desperate need of being introduced to the hope and freedom that Christ brings.