The new Mumford & Sons song is about the apocalypse

Here we are then. With any luck, this will be the last edition of Modern Relics to go out via Substack. I’ve migrated all your email addresses over to a new platform as of last week, and I’ll move over anyone who has subscribed since then too. Please look out for the next edition in your inbox, and check your promotions and spam folders!

Anyway, Modern Relics is a newsletter about religion, pop culture and the internet. People say it’s niche, and yet there’s so much to write about I can’t possibly cover it all.

Mumford & Sons has a new single

This probably ages me almost exactly, but Mumford & Sons — in particular their debut album Sigh No More — looms in my musical taste. While I was at uni they were wildly popular in both mainstream and Christian circles — the latter because their music is just insanely Christian. Marcus Mumford is the son of John and Eleanor Mumford, the international leaders of the Association of Vineyard Churches, and boy is it obvious lol (complimentary).

I’m kind of shocked I’ve never written about them in this newsletter before, but the band hasn’t done anything since I started Modern Relics, and I seem to have missed Marcus Mumford’s 2022 solo release. Sorry Marcus!

Anyway, they’re back! In collaboration with Pharrell Williams, we now have ‘Good People’, a song about God’s justice in the apocalypse. Or at least, it is depending on which words are capitalised and how you spell sun/son.

”Welcome to the revelation!” Mumford sings, ”Get ready!” ”The first shall be last and the last shall be first!”

The sun is rising
It’s coming
It’s on its way
So nothing tonight is getting in the way

A banger! It’s going right onto the Modern Relics Spotify playlist.

Korean heaven

Thanks for sending this to me Matt!

Indeed

Mormon influencer, but make it MORE Mormon. No, MORE!!

A quick aside: My brother-in-law('s husband) Curtis finally convinced me to start watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Honestly I'm impressed with how AI models have grasped the Mormon aesthetic. I've written before about AI going full Mormon missionary mode, possibly because of the LDS Church's efforts to prioritise church-friendly material in search engine results, which makes it more likely to be incorporated into AI models?

lol

Prosper looks interesting

There’s a new Australian drama out about a family that runs a megachurch. Judging by the promo, it’s billing itself as Succession meets Hillsong. The ABC’s review of the series is positive, but not quite glowing.

I think it’s safe to say Hillsong is extremely unpopular with the Australian public at the moment. The international scandals, Brian Houston’s court case, and the fact that Scott Morrison — one of the most unpopular prime ministers we’ve ever had — is a Pentecostal and regularly spoke at Hillsong events, associating him with the brand.

A Pentecostal megachurch is a really good setting for a drama, so I hope that the public’s antipathy towards the subject doesn’t flatten out the characters or the issues at play irl.

Prosper is streaming on Stan in Australia. It’s not immediately clear to me if it’s available overseas yet, sorry.

Britney Spears Christmas

My friend Callan sent me this and I'm not willing to wait until Christmas to post it. It's really good, and reminds me of Jenny Nicholson's church plays video.

Catalonian Nativity pooper

Another late Christmas entry.

GetReligion is ending

If you talk to a religion specialist for long enough, you’ll hear them gripe about how mainstream newsrooms just don’t get religion. Stories get missed and unnecessary errors creep into yarns simply because the reporter doesn’t understand that, say, a Roman Catholic and an Old Catholic are two very different things.

GetReligion was a site dedicated to critiquing mainstream religion coverage and promoting stories that were done well. It’s a shame to see it go, although I must admit I dropped off as a reader because of GetReligion’s almost laser focus on the United States.

Founder Terry Mattingly says that algorithmic forces on newsrooms are changing the way stories are reported and changing audience appetite for certain stories. “We’re not even talking about journalism the same way,” he said. “So how do I defend a business model that no longer exists?”

I still think promoting good religion reporting and critiquing stories that could be improved is a good niche for an online publication (or perhaps YouTube/TikTok channel?) It’s a no-brainer for Religion News Service, and could work for an independent creator too — especially if they’re also familiar with the technology landscape changing the news business. Free idea for you.

McChrist

Thanks for sending me this Travis

Thanks everyone. Remember to keep an eye on your inbox next week for Modern Relics coming at you from a different email address!