Red is White: Faithful & Stylish

Until recently, if anybody knew the name Jon Foreman, it was as the lead singer/frontman for Switchfoot. I happened to stumble across his name when I was browsing iTunes one day, and listened to a little bit of his first effort in a solo project he’d been working on- which was the Fall EP. I bought it immediately, and have been very pleased not only with that purchase, but with each of his follow-ups as well: Winter, Spring, and his latest release, Summer. (Notice a theme here?)

Much of what Foreman does on these four albums is some really nice, chill, stripped-down acoustic guitar stuff; all of what he does on these albums shows that he is really a gifted songwriter. Personally, as a whole album, the Winter EP is my favorite. “White As Snow” is particularly good- it’s Foreman’s rendition of Psalm 51. He also takes inspiration from the Scriptures on the Spring EP’s “Your Love is Strong,” with lyrics based on the Lord’s Prayer, and the Summer EP’s “House of God, Forever,” from Psalm 23.

The Summer EP strays a little bit from the laid back sound of the other EPs, as “Resurrect Me” brings a more aggressive beat, and actually sounds more Switchfoot-like than the rest of his solo stuff. “Instead of a Show” also gets a little aggressive, but with the lyrics rather than the music itself. The first verse and the chorus are taken from the good ol’ book of Amos, chapter 5, in which God is basically ripping Israel a new one for caring about all of the wrong things. The man is digging deep into the Word!

I wish I could explain how, but it feels like Foreman actually does capture a little bit of each season in these solo releases. That being said, in the opinion of this listener, each album is also well worth listening to at any point of the year.