The Faded Mirror

Many moons ago, when I would diligently sit at my computer long into the night, writing papers for seminary, I began to listen to the old mp3.com to keep myself awake.  mp3.com was a great website, just what I always wanted when I was in high school — a way for anyone to find and listen to music performed by anyone else, without all the dumbing down brought on by the modern music marketing machine.  Naturally, when people found they could upload entire commercial albums under their own name, the RIAA shut them down.  But until then, it was a musical smorgasborg, and it was all for free.

Of course, I found that my high school dream of unfettered music was not perfect — people uploaded a lot of dreck.  But, if one sifted through the dross, there were a number of gems to be uncovered.  Tracks from completely unknown artists like Bolsa de Papas, 24 Idaho, Dawson Cowals, and relative unknown Flight180 were all there for the listening.  But my favorite of all was MadelynIris.

MadelynIris was a husband and wife duo that combined the best layered vocals with lyrics that transcended the Christian pop or pretentious doublespeak of the day.  The sound ranged from lush electronica to tender acoustic piano.  I figure that they must have had a full recording studio in their basement.  Similarly, the lyrics ran the gamut from chanted Latin to a mother’s love poured out in song … can you guess what it is?.  Each song resonated with strong Christian faith, but never schmaltzy.  They even did a fantastic cover of U2’s Drowning Man, which you just have to hear to appreciate.

MadelynIris had CD’s available on mp3.com, but I was too poor/cheap to buy them.  So, when mp3.com went under, all I had was a handful of mp3 files that I had stashed away.  Later, I was able to collect a few more from the short-lived MadelynIris blog site.  Then, I finally hit paydirt.  Not one but both MadelynIris CD’s were on eBay for the bargain price of 99 cents.  Naturally, I placed my bid, ready to fend off the hordes of MadelynIris fans that would scrap over this digital treasure.

They never showed.  I won the auction uncontested.  Now I can cruise around in style, listening to MadelynIris on my CD player.

They say it’s a tragic ending, I say it’s a new beginning.  When all is wrong, it’s really all right.  When all is right, you’re bound to deny it…

New Day, by MadelynIris