A novel and an album

The "perfectly good man" in the title of Patrick Gale's latest novel is Barnaby Thomas, the priest of a rural parish in Gale's native Cornwall. Salley Vickers writes that through the novel we follow Thomas' 'life, spiritual and psychological, from his own perspective but also from that of the various characters who are germane to that life.' Julie Myerson suggests that:

'Gale's dog-collared protagonist is far more complex – and sinful – than we originally suspect. And, far from being a dull cipher, he is also that rare thing – a fictional character so charismatically ambiguous, so physically, spiritually and emotionally alive, that you feel you could reach out and ruffle his hair. Forget what they say about the Devil. There's a pretty good tune being tapped out here in these Anglican pages.'

Vickers concludes that the 'strength of this novel lies in its capacity to convey ordinariness authentically: ordinary love, ordinary failure, ordinary belief, ordinary, everyday tragedy, which of course in its particular manifestation is never "ordinary".'

'Michael Kiwanuka is the BBC Sound of 2012 winner ... Kiwanuka's soul had a new rootsy-folk direction, drawing influences from John Martyn alongside Pop Staples and Bill Withers and it wasn't long before his unique voice had attracted the attention of Paul Butler from the Bees, who took him to the Isle of Wight to work on EP Tell Me The Tale. Soon Communion Records had signed the 24 year-old up and Adele had invited the Londoner on her landmark 2011 tour.'

Alexis Petridis writes that:

'If such a thing as a racing certainty still exists in these turbulent times for rock and pop, then Michael Kiwanuka's debut album may well be it. It's always unwise to make predictions about these things, but there's no getting around the fact that the 24-year-old's music ticks a lot of boxes on the list headed Things People Seem to Like These Days ...

Those old enough to remember an era when British rock music, like the Blair administration, didn't really do God might raise an eyebrow at how much of Home Again seems to deal with Christianity. Kiwanuka addresses The Lord with such frequency that you picture Him hiding behind the sofa and pretending to be out. At first, it just sounds like a lyrical tic, but by the time you reach I'm Getting Ready – "to believe" – it's pretty clear that it runs substantially deeper than that.

There was a time when an album so explicitly God-bothering might have risked turning mainstream UK buyers off, although Kiwanuka might reasonably point out that most of the music that inspired him was exactly the same. Perhaps more pertinently, you could add that Mumford and Sons' links to evangelical Christianity and "awake my soul, you were made to meet your maker" lyrics have done nothing to harm their popularity in the UK and may well have contributed to it in the US: there are certainly a lot of American bloggers excited by the band's ability to provide "moments of worship" in their music. Back home, top of the list of Things People Seem to Like These Days is a certain earnestness and sincerity in their music: Home Again ticks that box as well.'

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Michael Kiwanuka - I'm Getting Ready.

Greenbelt diary (3) & Windows on the world (15)

Greenbelt, 2008

Day 3 began at The Hub with Andrew Tate's talk on resurrection narratives in contemporary culture. This was a helpful overview of artists exploring aspects of spirituality and took in Pat Barker, Nick Cave, Douglas Coupland, Dr Who, The Matrix, Superheroes, John Updike and Tim Winton.

Another interesting aspect of Greenbelt is the sense of dialogue occuring between seminars. In this instance, Tate's referencing of The Matrix and dismissal of the two sequels was counterbalanced by Peter Rollins' use of the films in the first of his Day 4 talks where he argued that the death and resurrection imagery of the first film, much loved by Christian commentators such as Tate, was shown in the later films to be a part of the control system exerted over the known universe by machines. Rollins was using this illustration to demonstrate the way in which 'the system' (in his case, the mainstream churches) can use new and revolutionary initiatives to bolster their system and survival.

I stayed on in The Hub for a fascinating talk by Salley Vickers in which she spoke about her novels, style of writing, and inspirations. She quoted the opening paragraph of Miss Garnett's Angel as a template for her over-riding theme; the effect of death on the living. She also spoke interestingly about the way in which her characters develop without there being any initial plotting of the story and of how she interleaves ancient stories with her contemporary stories and the dialogue that then occurs within the novels between them. Finally, she spoke about the way in which particular paintings come to have significance as images for understanding the story that has unfolded within each novel.

After my daughters arrived we went to the Arena for the Communion Service. Apparently the time for the service had been moved this year to the afternoon which meant that it coincided with the rain that blew in. This was rather ironic as the theme for the service, and for Greenbelt as a whole, was the Rising Sun. That's the risk you take when using a weather-related theme for an outdoor festival! Anyway, people persevered despite the rain and enjoyed the community feel of the service sitting picnic style in small groups to share communion and link ribbons.

Following the service, we went to mainstage to hear Beth Rowley, the performer we most wanted to hear over the weekend. Rowley has an exceptionally strong voice, ideal for festivals, and is backed by a very competent band for her mix of blues and gospel infuenced originals and covers. Hers was an excellent, enjoyable (if slightly easy listening) set where the only disappointment was the absence of 'So Sublime.'

From there I caught a few songs in what, I'm told, was a moving tribute concert for Larry Norman. While I was there performers were speaking honestly about his contradictions and not just his virtues. I returned to The Hub to hear the poetry of Mark Halliday, Cole Moreton and Martin Wroe combined with songs from Iain Archer. Knowing Wroe's work rather more than that of his colleagues it was his words that made most impact on me but the overall impression was of wrestling with faith and doubt.

I ended Day 3 with a visit to two installations. Phill Hopkin's Seven Drunken Nights and Possibility of the Impossible by The Garden, an emerging community based in Brighton, living obscurely on the fringes of religious life and seeking to work out how to live passionately in response to 'the other.' Possibility of the Impossible was a well-crafted experience beginning with simultaneous readings from influential books (the Bible, Das Kapital, The Female Eunuch etc.) which were then stored in three centrally located display cabinets. This was accompanied by images of eclipses and the extinguishing of candles. The point of the performance, in line with the ideas of Peter Rollins, was that we live over an abyss of meaninglessness beyond the reach of big stories but that by realising this we might possibly "find significance in what calls to us in 'what is', the wonder of the ordinary, the moment when life touches life."

One issue with the installation/performance and these ideas is in terms of what sustains this response of finding significance. The deconstruction of ideas leading to the recognition of meaninglessness is then followed by the possibility of finding significance again. But on what basis? For most, the recognition of meaninglessness has led either to madness or hedonism, not to significance. The installation/performance didn't seem to answer that question/issue, just to assert that significance might be possible.

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Iain Archer - When It Kicks In.