dreamer

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More about Dreamer

Here is a bit of extra info about constructing the Dreamer album, for those who are interested:

Angels Dance actually began as a spontaneous song we played during worship one night. We tried to retain the same simple feel as the first time we played it, and although we added more tracks and a few different sounds, the melody and chords remain unchanged. Since the song has only two chords we were free to play with the guitars once Bill and Chet set a nice happy groove. Its definitely the lightest feel of all the songs on the album, as it’s a pure praise song.

King of My Heart is a pure worship song set in the same musical vein as You Reign. As with most of our songs, it was written on the keyboard by Jill, and then modified to become guitar based. Teddy wrote a great intro and started the song acoustically based, and as the song progressed we brought up the other instruments to match but not quite overtake the original acoustic feel.

Home was intended to be a piano ballad, similar to Take Me to You (from first album), but during one of our worship practices we added the bridge chords, and consequently had to build the end of the song to match. Originally Jill sang “make my heart your home” over the bridge with a different melody, but we eventually replaced it with Will’s prayer/scripture reading.

Awake is the first song in the second phase of the album, which changes from pure worship songs to heavier prophetic intercession. We were at first worried about the songs being too heavy and were going to split them up, but it seems they were destined to go together. If you listen straight through, they set each other up, and lyrically can seem like one long song. We started out with a tribal acoustic feel to build some anticipation, and then bring in the heavy electric sound with the pre-chorus. In the second pre-chorus we build it even higher in the second half to match the intensity of the declaration Jesus Christ is King Forever before changing keys to give the last chorus more kick. Screaming out that declaration (“Jesus Christ is King Forever”) has been the turning point in many of the best worship services we’ve been a part of.

If you were to boil down our album’s heart to one song, it would be Dreamer. We designed the album artwork around this song especially. The lyrics are simple and repetitive, which we think puts more emphasis on the intensity of the feeling. At once a prayer and a declaration, it stirs up deep longings of the spirit every time we listen to or play it. Brian did a fantastic job coming up with electric parts for this song, as well as arranging the interesting background noises and vocals. The rhythmic, percussive guitars carry this song with an underlying intensity setting a base for the vocals, which are spread out.

Glory Come Down is the most intense track on the album, and is the hardest rock we’ve played as a band. We added a giant bass tom originally used in an orchestra, (affectionately christened Old Sparkles) and several tracks of cello and violin to match the dissonant chords and create the epic feel of a rock anthem. This is a special worship/intercession song, and we feel it finished off the second phase of the album well, as it builds to the highest and loudest intensity, sure to raise your blood pressure.

The Interlude was designed solely to transition out of the high ending of Glory Come Down into the calmer beginning of Worthy is the Lamb and the third phase of our album. It switches keys unnoticed from C minor to G Major, which is no small task. Jill wrote this all in about five minutes, multi tracking herself humming all three parts on a small tape recorder.

The inspiration while recording Worthy is the Lamb was imagining what the worship in heaven is like, and trying to recreate that purity and simplicity as best as we could. We wanted all of the focus to be on the words and melody, and so all of the music was designed to blend together to create a wall of sound, not to be noticed as individual instruments and parts. In the bridge we wanted to create the atmosphere of a typical small worship service here on earth, as you might hear standing in the back of a church, with a choir singing “holy” over and over before it explodes into the chorus. After the final chorus’ sweeping anthem, we eased it down to just a piano, an acoustic, and Jill singing “holy” to create the intimacy of a private worship room.

From the first time we played Angels Dance as a spontaneous worship song, we wanted to play a stripped down version with just Jill and her piano. After the ending of Worthy Is the Lamb, we thought it was a perfect time for an intimate ballad continuing with the same theme of singing “holy.” It also transitions chords, the ending setting up the beginning of You Reign.

We thought You Reign was the perfect ending to our album, as it talks in part about the completion of the things we interceded for in the earlier songs. We made it a two part song because of the raw simplicity of the beginning, and the heavy moving feeling of the second half. This song is a praise song and a declaration that through everything - the good, the bad, what has been, what is, and what will be - our God reigns!