Over the last three and a half years at R&T, I have observed different ways in which theological, religious, or spiritual language influences or even structures music reviews. These reviews, commonplace in newspapers, websites, and everyday speech, are sites where theological and musical tradition mix — or, understood slightly differently, show their originary co-implication (that is, how they were always together to begin with).

I thought about this again as I read Jon Pareles’ recent review, in the New York Times, of a concert by the British band Spiritualized at Terminal 5 in New York City.

The final two paragraphs of Pareles’ review sparkle with theological gems:

“It was a performance akin to ritual music, with the musicians somberly doing their jobs to send the

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