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Poor Bishop Hooper: Artist/Scientist?

This is a short post mainly just to rave about the work of Jesse and Leah Roberts, the husband and wife duo behind Poor Bishop Hooper.


One reason I love Poor Bishop Hooper -- and think that they represent a suitable topic for this blog -- is their project-oriented approach to artistic creation and ministry. They are trying out new things. The project-orientation is perhaps common for musicians. Poor Bishop Hooper has done several albums that follow this model: songs with thematic or tonal similarities, which are brought together into a single recording. 

If you check out their website, though, you will discover that they have gone far beyond the concept album. They've done The Golgotha Experience, which is a kind of live event that ushers people through the Stations of the Cross; they've done Firstborn, which is an Advent collection of art (including music, illustration, video, and writing); and they've done perhaps the project that I am most excited about: EveryPsalm.

Here's what the project website says:

EveryPsalm is a three-year long musical journey consisting of simple, meditative songs based on the psalms. Starting with Psalm 1 and ending at Psalm 150. All songs are FREE to listen, download, or stream. [...]

Accompanying the musical works are seven original copper etchings by Lauren Stevens. Each piece of visual art portrays one of the seven major categories or themes in which the psalms are commonly divided. These themes are Praise, Lament, Thanksgiving, Confidence, Kingship, Remembrance, and Wisdom.

This kind of experimentation and attempting interesting, exciting things in service of the kingdom is what The Lab is all about, and it is exciting to celebrate it wherever we find it.



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