Screaming tree

Brother Danielson is of the ever growing tribe of Christian singer/songwriters with a Rock&Roll attitude. Think of 16 hp, Sufjan Stevens, or the whole Dutch Volkoren label with acts like At The Close of Everyday and Anderson. What they all have in common, is a certain reverence for God. Or the Holy Maker, or the Man Above, or however you wish to call Him. And yes, it's a Him. Not some New Age kind of subtle force of love, but the one and only author of the Holy Books. Especially the Old Testament is a thankful subject, where fire and brimstone are never far off.
What sets Brother Danielson apart from the few other Bible Belters I've seen, is his wackiness. I mean, which fan of the Old Scriptures in his right mind is going to dress up like a talking tree that just walked away from a children's version of the Lord Of The Rings? And everything about him is just perfectly happy and gay, without it becoming fake. The way he asks the audience to clap and sing along every time, has an autistic, manic ring to it. But that's just what made him get away with it. And his superb songs of course.
All delivered with his squealing high pitched voice, his songs are something I've never heard before. It's a mix of naive sixties hippie anthems and punk-folk, and it works. The hippie words he makes us sing along are way beyond shame, but we don't mind. Because after all, who's dressed up like a tree here anyway?

These are the pics I made. They were for the review in 3voor12/utrecht.