Interview: Jeremy Enigk

About ten years ago, when I first began to write about gospel, I was often asked to write about Christian rock as well. There wasn't much pay in writing about musicians who hadn't released any new music in fifty years, and this was a contemporary music scene disdained by the mainstream press but which accounted for millions of dollars in revenue each year. Having worked for a year or two at a record shop in East Tennessee which sold a lot of the stuff, I was pretty familiar with the subculture and its major stars. Naturally, I sought out the artists who were making the most vital and least hackneyed stuff. I soon realized that many of the more interesting acts affiliated with Christian rock at the time were based in the Pacific Northwest, where I moved in 1998. If they didn't live there, exactly, they were on mid-sized indie labels based there, notably Tooth and Nail and Sub Pop.

I wrote about these artists — Starflyer 59, Damien Jurado, Pedro the Lion, Joy Electric and Jeremy Enigk from emo pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate chief among them — as often as I could. They seemed much more advanced musically and artistically than even the most underground and "cool" musicians associated with Christian rock. I'd just immersed myself in old-school black gospel, where Biblical imagery was used as a metaphor rather than an excuse to browbeat, a deeply soulful music that chose to uplift not merely through lyrics but through often intricate and emotional sounds. After that, facing the lyrically one-dimensional and politically retrograde realm of mainstream CCM (contemporary Christian music) was not easy — sort of like switching from local, fresh and organic to a steady diet of McDonald's.

Jeremy Enigk's conversion to Christianity in the mid '90s was a huge deal in indie-rock circles, his spiritual awakening widely blamed for causing the revered, enigmatic and massively influential Sunny Day Real Estate to dissolve. In December of 1994, Enigk responded to that allegation in a much-discussed e-mail to a Sunny Day mailing list. "I was so full of joy that I wanted all of my friends to feel the way I did," he wrote at the time. "I told all of them, and of course they couldn't understand, since it was something that I had been going through myself... To give your life to Christ means to deny yourself, to completely live for him. Doing this will change your comfort zone that you had been trying to get since you can remember." The message caused a fair amount of controversy in the indie rock community. "I get a lot of people assuming that I'm a certain way," Enigk says now. "It's partly that I was initially so enveloped in this flame of inspiration that I did say things somewhat undigested and in a cut-throat way. I wrote a kind of crazy letter explaining myself and my beliefs; I'd had an epiphany and was super inspired, you know?"

Although Enigk was said to have renounced rock music, Sunny Day Real Estate has since reformed twice, and Enigk continues to perform with most of the band, making jagged indie-pop as the Fire Theft. The high-pitched singer-songwriter's first solo album, 1996's The Return of the Frog Queen, was a far more subdued work of orchestral pop, with most of the instruments played by Enigk himself. It found him crooning strangely and wonderfully, many songs clear expressions of his newfound faith. His sophomore effort, World Waits (on Enigk's brand-new label Reincarnate), is even more of a departure. Ten years in the making, the album's diverse almost to a fault. There's less of an orchestral vibe, and a more atmospheric production. More people play on this record, and he sings in a lower register much of the time.

With every other song a mid-tempo anthem that aims for the last seat in the stadium, World Waits is meant to be huge. Lyrically, the album is far more advanced; Enigk sings not just of the power of God but of the quest to understand God, which often includes strong disagreements. I spoke with Enigk last month as he relaxed at his Seattle home between preparations for a cross-country fall tour with Cursive. Enigk never wanted to be on a label that solely sold and marketed Christian music; in fact, he finds the entire endeavor of bands who sound like fake-happy little commercials for a certain, un-questioning idea of Christianity to be "a fucking sin." As soon as he said so, I wanted him to be my new best friend.

"Marketing God is wrong, I think," he continued. "And that music is presented as if it's all in a box, and it's all solely supposed to be about 'praising.' But that's not what the reality of love is, the common truth in everything, you know? One of my philosophies is that it's super important to question God, because in seriously looking at things, you have a better understanding of yourself and life. And even if you disagree, there is hope; there's always the new day. There's always hope, 'cause life is in your hands, you know?"

Enigk's favorite band of all time is U2, who are arguably the world's largest Christian rock band. I wondered aloud if part of what Enigk likes about the band is that they grapple with ideas of faith and conscience and are obviously dudes of faith, yet no one expects them to adhere to a strict ideology in their songs.

"I love it because it's real music, with real soul!" he replied. "They've created their own style, and it's so strongly theirs." (Having over-thought about why U2 might be so important to Enigk, I find his fanboy-like gushing very appealing.) "It's just very pretty, and it moves me. They have a soul! They've been my favorite band for years and I always think, 'OK, I'm going to grow out of it.' But I never do."

For World Waits, it was crucial to Enigk that he "get out of the box of what I do." That includes putting a new emphasis on solo work. "My heart and soul is the solo music," he says. "I just got tied up with other things, you know?" Enigk plans to tour behind World Waits "for a year or two." In the meanwhile, the Fire Theft is on hold. "We're definitely gonna record again," he says, "because I love playing and working with those guys. They're some of my best friends, and we've worked together for so long by now. But I doubt we'll tour or play shows. We want to take a different pace, do things differently. Who knows, though? We could just decide to tour once we write the songs. We'll have to see where our inspiration takes us."