Zane Vickery’s second full-length album, Interloper, is a personal work in which Vickery works to make sense and understand the purpose of his life. The album is a work, and by that I mean it is not a collection of songs, but a rock opera. Opera fits. So does, epic. Or even confession. It represents a huge effort of scale. The scale is as big as Vickery’s voice — a powerful baritone that does not crack in his higher register, and around that voice is built a powerful instrumentation along with satisfying female backup vocals. Every song has a part to play, and not one thing is wasted.

I mentioned that the work was like an opera or an epic. Vickery’s effort swings for the fence. It is one thing to write music about your disappointment, fear, and traumatic experience, but it is another thing to compassionately imagine the inner lives of those who disappointed, terrorized, or almost killed you which he does in “The Grateful and Grieving” and “The Best You Could.” Vickery also knows that all the fingers aren’t pointing away. He too owns his part. And this is what makes the story have such an epic quality. The problems are not flat, two-dimensional. They bear the complexities of real life such as, How does one come to terms with the wounding in which you’ve been wounded as well as the guilt of your own wounding of others? Interloper speaks to the existential reality and lurking fear that if we’re honest, we do not belong anywhere. Among victims, we are a victimizer and among the victimizers, we’ve been victimized.

This leads to a quality that reflects the bigness of his work. Vickery is a romantic. I don’t mean this is some historical or academic or dime store novel way, I mean this in what I can only describe as a big-sky, greatest love of the universe sort of way. Though time will be the judge, Vickery’s attempt at storytelling is as ambitious as Dante’s traveling through Hell and Purgatory into the loving heart of the universe. It reflects the unfiltered honesty of Augustine’s Confession wherein a restless, confounded soul seeks to find rest for his restless heart. And though he is still young (from my vantage point on the line of life), it seems he has been given a cosmic glimpse. I”m staking my life in believing his glimpse reflects reality. It is my hope that the glimpse he offers is true. Even if one doesn’t believe in the sort of Love about which Vickery sings, one should want it be true. What Vickery shows us is this: That there is more mercy than our wounds or wounding can tax. There is more beauty spilling through the ordinary moments of a day that we can create on our own, and the love of God is real. Vickery I think, testifies to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

And this may be the sign of the true artistry of his work. It is inspiring. Listening to what he sees, makes you want to be able to see what he has come to see. In my listening to the album over the past two days, the first thing it inspired was and attempt to write a review that was firstly creative — a poem. It is made to honor and reflects the impact his music has had. Here’s what I first wrote which you may listen to via the player below.

"His Story"

His is a story that’s ever-been told
Of a man who on the eve of growing old
Must face reality: how he got here
And how one must face all the fears one fears--
A story told by Paul and John long ago
And Augustine, Dante, Victor Hugo. 

Stories filled with scenes of abuse and harm
Where the truth lies veiled, somehow charmed
By familiar words that no longer sound
The depths of the pain though in pain, we drown
In resentment, stuck, at hell’s city gate,
Harder-hearted, wondering if it's too late?

Stories of the wounds we inflicted on
Those we should’ve loved, held dear all along
But turned against, shunned, ghosted, failed, betrayed
To transfer the shame of our heart-hole pain,
And clinching smashed peaches, the question stings,
Why on earth would I do such a thing?

Forced, it seems to do things we never thought
We could ever do, conscience seared, then caught
In a weighty moment of Light-Surprise
That we do not have to live in the lies.
Shocked, holding mercy like candlesticks,
We must decide, What do we do with this?

I wonder at the ways that brought me here
Am I exiled or will Welcome draw near?
Is there a place midst wind-swept fields
Where Beauty looks down, does not wield
A sword but shade, takes us in hand to bring
Us into the loving heart and truth of everything?

To Zane and to the musicians, vocalists, engineers, and production team, keep up the great work, and if given a choice, sink towards the sunrise.

Interloper releases at midnight on August 23, 2024 and is available for purchase and streaming on all streaming platforms. You’ll want to own this one.