St. Lenox and the Rare Modern 'Indie' Album

Andrew Choi explores a multitude of topics on his excellent fourth album

Indie music has expanded into an all-encompassing term over the last ten years. Take a look at the genre on Spotify or Apple Music, and the playlists include everything that doesn’t fit in the Top 40 format. Even stuff released through the major labels is billed as “indie” these days.

So when I come across an album like Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times, the latest by St. Lenox, that has an authentic DIY feel and was released on an indie label, I’m ecstatic.

Andrew Choi has been recording as St. Lenox for a decade, and his fourth album affirms that he’s one of the most unique and distinct voices in the scene today. Choi delivers his introspective lyrics in an animated shout that falls somewhere between Daniel Johnston and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady. Its urgency is instantly captivating.

St. Lenox is a vehicle for Choi to explore a wide variety of topics, and his lyrical gift for making you chuckle during a most serious moment is on par with legends like Warren Zevon and Randy Newman.

With Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times, Choi has religion, death, politics, and the challenges of the modern world on his mind. The record opens with “Deliverance,” a discussion about Puxatawny Phil that quickly turns to Choi’s struggles with religion after a coworker’s death. It’s heavy stuff but Choi’s positivity sucks you right in.

“Arthur Is at a Shiva” is also about death but the scene Choi sets with the mundaneness of coworkers at a work happy hour is glorious. What could have been a morose song instead works because of the accessible situations that Choi places his characters in:

“I was down at a work party last week to
Celebrate the end of the summer
It was the end of the evening then
And I was at a bar up in midtown
Jerry’s feeling like chicken tonight
And he orders some wings from the waitress
And then Jerry and I traded shots at the bar
It was the typical shenanigans
But where’s Arthur now?”

If all of the authentic office talk on this record sounds relatable, it’s because Choi’s day job is working in Manhattan as an attorney.

“Kroger Twilight” eases things up with a meditative ode to nighttime grocery shopping. It’s an uncomplicated little song full of characters and situations that feel familiar. “What is it Like to Have Children?” touches on Choi’s Korean roots and queerness while thinking about his unborn child. “Will I be the world’s number one father, like on the coffee mug?” Choi ponders while committing to “punch the soccer dad who yelled at you at the pizza party.”

Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times is a rumination of religion that is never preachy. Instead, Choi walks through human situations while remaining hopeful. Its spirit is independent in the truest form and is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year.

Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times is available now on Don Giovanni Records.

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