It is never a happy occasion when a band decides to take a break, hiatus, or whatever you want to call it. Fall Out Boy fans everywhere have moaned about the decision by Wentz, Stump and co. to take a “break” from playing together in the band, and rightly so; imagine how you would react if your favourite sports club disbanded. It is fair to say that the decision by Jessy Ribordy to disband Falling Up and take a “permanent break” was extremely unexpected by the band’s supporters and indeed those in the Christian music industry; Falling Up have been one of the premier bands in the Christian music industry, having sold over 200,000 records and inspired a generation with their unique brand of hard rock, nu metal and pop-infused anthems. Ribordy’s terse statement on Falling Up’s Myspace blog1 is an indicator that indeed, the guys have simply had enough; there’s certainly an element of reason and rationale about this, as they “have diverged into other areas in our lives and drifted away from the group known as Falling Up”.
All the same, it is a shame to witness the closure on one of Christian music’s most popular chapters; the band’s lyrics were never overly preachy, but always held an underlying sense of God’s grace in them. It has also been a pleasure to witness Falling Up’s stylistic evolution; they began as hard-rocking garage band hopefuls with a touch of emo punk in Crashings and Dawn Escapes, before moving into more experimental, synth and rhythm-driven emo-pop ala Radiohead and Silverchair in their musical nadir, Captiva. Their newest record, Fangs, takes this evolution to the next step and embraces the concept album style completely, experimenting with unconventional instrumentation and structure (It’s a great album, by the way). Most of these albums are still available on thirdmile.com, and I strongly encourage you to check out some of them. Falling Up has certainly been a breath of fresh air in the Christian music industry, and we wish Messrs. Ribordy, Shroy and Miller all the best for the future.
By Josh Y
FALLING UP (Def’n) - The band's name is derived from the first song they wrote, which refers to how imperfect people are, but how sufficient the grace of God is to compensate for it.