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

"Clothed With Dignity" by Grace Frances: Trading Shame for a New Identity

Your worth was never up for negotiation.  Grace Frances wrote “Clothed With Dignity” from a place most of us recognize (in some form or other) but will rarely admit out loud. She carried old regrets like a second skin, calling herself names that her past mistakes didn’t deserve. “I demonize the girl I was, when she was just trying to survive,” she sings, and that line hurts. Haven’t we all judged ourselves for choices that we made while simply trying to get through the day? Even choices that seemed to be fine in the moment, but proved to be otherwise over time.  Grace’s breakthrough didn't come from fixing herself, but from surrendering… surrendering to God. “You clothe me with dignity,” she declares, describing a moment where self-condemnation lost its grip and grace took over.  Grace’s story is fairly similar to the story found in Isaiah 61:10 —  “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; h...
More >>

"Just Believe" by For Him: When Doubt Isn't Disqualifying

Can you believe without having all the answers? Some people wait at the edge of faith for years, arms crossed, waiting to feel ready. “Just Believe” was written by For Him for exactly that person — the one who wants to trust Jesus but still carries a list of questions. The song grew out of that in-between space, where doubt and faith sit side-by-side and neither one of them wins outright. Gritty Southern-rock guitars carry lyrics that ask a two-thousand-year-old question: “Could Love have worn a human face?” The answer to that question brings purpose and comfort to our lives. The song doesn’t demand certainty before you move. It invites wonder instead. “You don’t have to shape your future // He begins where you can’t reach.” The message and intent of this song make it clear that you don’t need to figure out everything first before you can take a step toward God.  A man quoted in the gospel of Mark understood this tension better than most of us. Desperate for his son to be healed,...
More >>

"I've Got Joy" by Tyler Philip Ratcliffe: Why Joy Isn't the Same as Happiness

Sorrow and joy can share the same room. “I’ve Got Joy” by Tyler Philip Ratcliffe was triggered by a telephone call. Tyler reconnected with an old friend who’d been going through a period of loneliness. Tyler shares: “We talked at length about the season of loneliness he was experiencing, and we discussed a few other topics that are reflected in the verses.” This triggered Tyler to tackle this concept of having Joy, and it became clear that “I’ve Got Joy” isn’t the same as “I’ve Got Happiness” . Joy is more than happiness, and it certainly isn’t a painted-on smile. Tyler makes that distinction on purpose, because he’s writing about the nights he spent “down to my last prayer,” and about sitting “in a room full of people” while feeling completely invisible. He’s writing about all of the kneeling and “begging for the answer to a question I can’t speak.” That’s real, and that’s most of us, on our worst weeks. The chorus takes us back to “joy”. Tyler sings: “I’ve got joy in my lungs, ye...
More >>