Alright, I’m going to take a break from my usual tongue-in-cheek lampooning and my impassioned defenses of nerdy lost causes for once. I found a song that I’d like to share with you guys, and I think in this case, since I have this platform open for my free use, this particular song deserves more than some lame Facebook post.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have my finger on the pulse of pop culture; I’m not the biggest fan of television or social media -- any cutting-edge technology, really -- and although I’m a passionate musician, I don’t really keep up with music as a listener. I love music -- who doesn’t? -- but I’ve got more pressing concerns, like comic books and mythology, that take precedence over the latest awful music video. I have broad tastes, but very little depth across that breadth of music -- if you put a gun to my head and asked me to differentiate between Beyoncé and ZZ Top, I might have to take the bullet -- and as such, I’m probably not the most qualified person to be writing about the latest trends in music. But I’m going to do it anyway, and I think (fingers crossed) it might just make sense why by the end of this article.

Maybe you’ve heard of a little band called Relient K -- maybe not. For the uninitiated among us, Relient K (yes, that is spelled correctly) is an alternative/punk rock band that got together around the turn of the millennium and has been making music fairly consistently ever since. They got their start in the Christian rock genre, and although fans have hotly debated whether they still fall into this category (which I personally believe is starting to dissolve as major Christian artists dissociate themselves with the “genre”), the content of their songs hasn’t changed drastically over the years. They produce melodies ranging from upbeat to somber and lyrics that can speak to the soul but also possess a sort of comic, punny edge. Arguing musical taste is pointless, so I won’t try to convince you that they’re a good group of musicians (even though they’re great). I’d rather direct your attention for a brief four minutes and five seconds to their newest single, "Look On Up."

This song, which has popped up at a few live performances over the past couple years, has been begging for a studio treatment for a while now. I know I said I wasn’t going to impose my musical taste on you, but I believe that, from a technical/mechanical standpoint, it’s a nice chilled-out song with a good balance of softer and more powerful moments. The lyrics fit with this tone, but they also drive at the greater theme that drives the genesis and execution of the music.

It doesn’t take an English major to detect what the message of this song is, but as a devout English major, I consider it my moral obligation to analyze it anyway, because there is a bigger point here -- trust me. Despite (or maybe in light of) a few nuances here and there, "Look On Up" ostensibly argues that we all ought to put away our phones, shut down our computers, turn off our television sets, and head outside to experience the Earth’s natural beauty as we were intended to. Photography has made some impressive strides in recent years, but I don’t believe that it has yet surpassed the human eye in its ability to record quality images (you can read more about that in an admittedly older article here), and Relient K would agree. Even if it has, there’s something to be said for experiencing a moment, not an image, with no filter in between you and your subject.

Me being the Luddite that I am, I think it’s an important message to hear in our busy, screen-oriented society. And if you agree, awesome! Please, stop reading this article and go outside! Enjoy the vital thrum of the Earth and all its glories. Yoda said that the Force connects all matter -- not just people and animals, but also plants and rocks and metal constructs -- and I think he was onto something, just as I think this song reminds us of what may be the real meaning of life: to live and experience as many good things as we can while we’re here.

But you might think I’m full of it and all of this hippie Romantic Jedi garbage is a total load. And you might be onto something, too. Just as the song calls for us to abandon our distracting tech and appreciate the beauty of the world we get to live in, it does so through a digital medium. Just as I’m arguing for us young people to drop our technology and get outside, I’m doing so over a social media platform. The whole enterprise feels a little hypocritical, and I feel a little dirty when I listen to it on my iPod or even when I find live recordings online -- isn’t the whole point to get away from our screens? Yet, barring physical presence at a live performance, we can’t hear that message and appreciate the beauty of the song without the aid of technology. Doesn’t the act of releasing this single, which can be digitally downloaded for profit and shared over the Internet, castrate the song of its meaning?

Maybe. Or maybe it just adds another layer of significance to the message. Maybe our generation has hit a point -- not an ascent or decline, just a point -- in human history where we can’t fully distance ourselves from our tech. I will grudgingly but readily admit that telecommunications, all this electro-sorcery that pervades through our daily lives, makes life a lot easier and more convenient. It comes with baggage, but it does a lot of good, too. So maybe we don’t need to throw our phones and laptops out the window. Instead, maybe we should try to find a balance between what Man has created and why Man was created.

I guess my charge for you is this: don’t get too caught up in the argument between Naturalism and Modernism; you can lean one way or another, but you should appreciate the other side’s points. Accept that you probably can’t live without your phone, but also, remember that it isn’t the key to your life. I know I sound like a parent lecturing you to “get off of The Facebook and get some fresh air,” but I think the Naturalist/Romantic side of the debate could use a little support. Do this one little thing for me. Take ten minutes, unplug, take a walk outside, and look on up. And then you can hop back onto social media and tell me that I’m full of crap or that, perhaps, there’s something to be said for this song and its message after all. It’s up to you.