‘Cedars Of Lebanon’: Prog Collective ‘Icons Of Industry’ Seeks To Influence Culture

By Keith Walsh
The beautiful track “Cedars Of Lebanon” from Icons Of Industry, in Austin, Texas, has hints of Kansas and Emerson, Lake ,and Palmer, as well as the beginnings of Christian rock, with slightly soft guitar tones, lovely melodies, and inspirational lyrics. The recording includes two violinists, a cellist, and musicians from five countries.

I asked singer/songwriter Roberto Montoya if he was influenced by Maranatha Music that grew out of Calvary Chapel in California, in the early 1970s.  Montoya explains: “I’m familiar with the Maranatha movement, I’ve haven’t looked into it in depth but I’ve heard of it, but the 70s sound comes from my upbringing as a musician. So I grew up with a lot of the 70s progressive stuff, Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rush, things like that.”

As Christian music and Christianity in general can be divisive, I wondered who Icons Of Industry saw as their target audience. “The audience would be anyone who’s into experimental and progressive music,” he said. “If you listen to our catalogue, it does kind of vary, so there’s electronic stuff, ‘Cedars Of Lebanon’ that we just released that’s more like you mentioned, 70s prog, a lot of instrumentation like that. So it’s really difficult to find a core audience, partly because of that.”

“Somebody that might listen to the electronic songs –say they might listen to ‘Exit Loop’ which was a track we did with a turntablist from Spain, it’s very electronic, it’s got, some people have said Radiohead vibes, and things like that. So they might like that, and then they come to something like ‘Cedars Of Lebanon’ and they’re ‘that’s nothing like ‘Exit Loop.” That’s one of the downsides of wanting to explore and experiment, is finding the people that will appreciate the different genres that we’re trying to weave together.”

The turntablist from Spain (Alex Nozop) is only one of many session musicians that Icons Of Industry have worked with. On ‘Cedars Of Lebanon’ alone, there are musicians from five countries, and in the project as a whole, from nine countries, recorded while working remotely.

“That’s why I call it a collective,” said Montoya. “There is a core group, right? Now I’m driving this. Johnny (Lopez III), one of my friends from when we were kids is the drummer. He has a long history with Latin music, he’s playing drums. And we have Megan Berson on violin, that’s kind of the core group. And then we bring in other musicians….Going back to ‘Cedars Of Lebanon.’ That has 5 different session people from 5 different countries on that track alone. I think I’ve worked on the catalog with people from 9 different countries. Including the United States.”

The lyrics in the verses point to a person in trouble looking for answers:

“I’d taken it all in stride
But I was too loud to listen for
The sound of the fire
It’s turning on strong
It’s time to give it up
And stop the running now
It’s on the line“
(From “Cedars Of Lebanon”)

“Cedars Of Lebanon” is a lovely song, and that’s due not only to the sweet instrumentation, but also to lyrical inspiration. “So there’s multiple Psalms (in the song),” said Montoya. “The two main ones are psalm 104 and psalm 29. And what was interesting for me is the contrast. One of the Psalms is about the Lord planting the Cedars of Lebanon. And the other Psalm says he breaks them into pieces with his voice. So both the planting and the shattering of the cedars are from the Lord, and two different Psalms from two different perspectives. So that contrast was interesting to me, in the lyrics I touch on that. I touch on the planting and the destruction of the cedars.”

As offensive as Christianity may seem to many people in 2021, Montoya is clear about Christian music’s place in today’s culture. I asked him, ‘what is the role of Christian music today?’ “I think the role of Christian music would be the same as Christianity in general,”he said. “It’s to first of all to bring the reality of the gospel and what Jesus did, bring that into the real world. So it’s basically a living out of the things that we say that we believe — to proclaim, basically to bear witness. So Christian music is a way to bring that message and along with the message, the world view. so with Icons Of Industry, we don’t really bill ourselves or say that we’re a Christian rock band or a Christian band. So I’m a Christian myself, and actually some of the members of icons are not Christians. So as a collective, we collaborate with musicians from different walks of life and different perspectives. But me, as the lyricist for Icons, the lyrics are really what would be Christian. So the things that I talk about are coming from that worldview. So the lens with which I see the world is through a Christian lens.”

In addition to the core members in Icons Of Industry, international artists who played on ‘Cedars Of Lebanon” they include: Nuno Silva, on hammered dulcimer (Portugal), Mauricio Emanuels, on bass (Chile) Joylin on violin (Romania), and Tom McCluskey on Cello (United Kingdom).

The lyric video for “Cedars Of Lebanon” was created by Yojimboakira, an artist in the Philippines. The song was mixed by Brian Reeves, and features vocals, guitars, and baby sitar by Roberto Montoya.

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