Shouldn’t come as a surprise that a man whose last name is Church is faith-based.
Faith has always been an underlying theme in much of Eric Church’s catalogue. His debut album is titled Sinners Like Me, but faith has arguably never been more present than in this latest project: Evangeline vs. The Machine. The Chief has always loved to write within the cosmic story of good and evil, thus a lot of his songs can be linked to moments in the book that did that story better than anything else: The Bible.
Throughout Evangeline vs. The Machine, there’s an overarching message of two great powers butting heads with one another. Man and machine. Creativity and commercialism. Light and dark. Instant profit or lasting persistence. Most of the songs in the album – if not all of them – hint at various portions of the Gospel. And the sound of the album itself, stemming from the horns, strings, an organ and the backing choir, make you feel like you are sitting in a church pew.
So obviously, when he sat down with Apple Music to talk about his latest project, the topic of faith and the battle of good and evil came up. I mean… not sure how you couldn’t ask him about religion after putting together an album that has “Church” (in both sense of the word) written all over it.
Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen asked about his thoughts on the battle between good and evil that’s represented in the new project, and if he has a sense of who wins:
“I have a very good sense of who wins. I know who wins. But I think that good and evil has always been… I mean that’s the story of the world. There’s always been that. You go back to biblical times. You go back to before. It’s the same thing, you know? The devil walks the Earth and he wreaks havoc anywhere he can.”
Church went on to say that he believes the battle of good and evil is present in almost everything… and especially music. He feels that he’s able to tap into that by crafting songs and albums, and loves that music can be something that can fight for good:
“I think that’s what I love about music. Using music as an element of good is something that’s redemptive in being able to pick up a guitar and do that.”
The country star cited the example of seeing concert goers putting their arms around each other and raising their beer up in the air in unity, even if they might have differing beliefs. That, he said, personifies the true power of music, how it’s a uniter in a world that’s pretty divided:
“There’s always this good versus evil element in everything we do. I think music has that. I think for me, being able to acknowledge that is kind of your job as a songwriter. You report where you are and where your emotions are, and you hope that lines up with where their emotions are.
Faith is a big part of my life, and it’s always been a big part of my life. And I think, for me, the most powerful thing about music is we can disagree on everything. We can disagree on politics. We can disagree on (whatever). But music is the one thing where it’s kind of a safe space.”
