As the band's moniker so clearly suggests, Soldiers of Jah Army can come off as an homage solely to the Rastafarian religion. But SOJA is better understood as a band of earthly faith, whose journey is through a world of perspectives and religious ideals - and whose ultimate goal is translating the universal message of peace and love into one of spiritual and cultural acceptance.

"When I started out, I think I was into putting periods on everything: the right way is this, the wrong way is this, God is this, life is this," lead singer Jacob Hemphill says about the band's present and future goals. "As I got older and most of my answers turned into questions, I replaced the periods with question marks and 'dot dot dots.' The subject matter is still the same: same ethics, same morals, more or less." SOJA have launched themselves into a nomadic brand, creatively reaching out across the globe despite being five white brothers from the American suburbs. They use their status as a jumping-off point, a method for conveying the universality of reggae music and dismembering the social restrictions implicit within the genre.

SOJA is an improvisational, rock-oriented reggae band that offers the same message roots music has been preaching since it bombed into the mainstream in the era of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley. SOJA's perspective doesn't come from a repressed, poverty-stricken place, but from the privileged and accessible backyards of middle America. In many ways, it is that audience who needs SOJA's message the most, as a means of liberation from mass consumerism and a way to connect the similarities inherent between people of any background. All our stories are more intertwined than we think.

"We have lost a lot of our natural instinct," Hemphill says. "We don't grow our food, we don't find drinking water, we don't build our homes, ?we don't know how a faucet works - just how to turn it on. We don't see the world as a circle, but a square with definitive borders that we don't cross and we don't care to. That is a lot of what I'm talking about [in the music] and it carries over to our spirituality, our way of life, our relationships with our fellow humans - with everything."

With all of this in line, it is SOJA's musicianship and experimental elements that elevate them above and beyond reggae. There is a distinct rock 'n' roll, blues-driven essence to their music; a jammy quality that's simply rooted and alternatively tuned. SOJA is modern reggae vocalized by the youth of Western culture, high pitched and easy on the ears. It's no surprise, especially after hearing their latest full-length, Born in Babylon, or seeing them perform live, that this band has erupted into global popularity. A big part of their success is their concerted effort to reach new fans and market themselves as an aesthetically memorable, particular sort of global brand. Everything takes part in the formation of this identity - sound, stage presence, image, tour schedules, community outreach - and for SOJA, all elements are cohesive.

"We try to practice what we preach," Hemphill says. "If I'm singing about the environment, we should all recycle and do our part and the discs should be printed on recycled materials and be easy to recycle. We put out good music and make it as accessible as possible. We give out music and play in poor countries as well as rich ones like our own."

SOJA is conscious, time-sensitive and politically charged. If they can teach us anything, it's this: reggae music is a unifying, down-to-earth genre. It is a vessel for positivity, peace and understanding. Soldiers of Jah Army can be a reference to all life in nature - all species and all veins of race - and their true aim is to tell stories with their music and unite worlds with the clear and honest message that knowledge is freedom.