Well, many of you might be surprised that we've included a traditional hymn in on our latest cd.
Probably for you newer fans, you think of us as a pure pop band. It's is really funny though, because before this cd we were more indie/acoustic maybe?
Anyway, the painstaking processes we took to write, re-write, re-arrange, produce, record, mix and master the finished songs was of great signifance to our new "sound" YET...
Our hearts will always be in worship.
And even more so, Katy has really brought to the mix her love of traditional hymns. So one day when we were deciding what to put on the EP we thought it'd be fun to include a hymn.
How should we do that?
Maybe re-write a traditional one and put an updated modern chorus in it. Or maybe modernize a traditional hymn? We approached it from different angles.
But finally we just decided to leave it rather traditional. The strength of the song itself really spoke volumes to what we wanted to convey about our message and music. So to keep it in it's original form as much as possible was important to us. That's where Katy came from and that's where I heard the heart of the song speak to me as a listener and worshipper. So that's what we did! Of all the production and mastering/mixing etc etc. it was really a breath of fresh air for us to just sit in a room together with a coupla mics and record this straight. No production, nothing fancy. Then my friend Tim Sadow came in, and the pro he was, laid down a super cool violin track over what we did. And that was it!
It was decided earlier on the budget we wanted to work with, so it was said that there may be a good chance we wouldn't have time to include the hymn.
There were very few things we pushed for but the hymn was one of them. And we are soooo thankful that we were able to include it...
Where would we put it in the song order?
Well we thought about it and from what we talked about, Katy and I we decided that we wanted to end the EP with the hymn because of it's wonderful simplicity. The lyrics of the other songs pointed to struggles..."set me free let me rest, tear off these chains that I've locked on myself" Also failures..."Here I am so weak, here I am so incomplete" yet in the midst of all of that there was hope in the end and so in the end of this recording we wanted to absolutely point and outline the hope and how we feel about the Lord. We wanted it at the end as a way of saying, no matter what the struggle, we want to stay near Jesus, where we can find rest.
Near The Cross...
Jesus keep me near the Cross, there a precious fountain, free to all a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain.
In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.
Near the Cross a trembling soul, love and mercy found me, there the Bright and Morning Star sheds it's beams around me.
In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.
Near the Cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever, til I reach the golden shore, just beyond the river.
In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.
Kim
~ReignDown~