Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A Work in Progress

Ladies and gents, its official…we are back in the studio! This time it is for our duet lullaby album. [No, we are not preggo. Believe me, you will know when we are ;) ] We have 3 songs done in writing, we’re laying down the tracks for those, and then about 4 or 5 traditional lullabies [and some not-so-traditional] from when we were kiddos. It’s been fun. Slow, but fun. You could call this album the “crock-pot” album :) It is slow coming but I’m pretty confident that it is going to be goooooood. I have cried a number of times already, hearing my husband write his song to our unborn son…heart melter!

Other than that, Ty’s been working on alot of songs with his band. Their new EP just released and it is on itunes now! Woot woot! Take a listen here. I’m partial, but I think it is SO radio status and super duper catchy. My favorite one is “No One’s Gonna Die.” There’s actually an ironic story to this song. The lyrics of the chorus are, “Calm down, put your guns to the ground, no one’s gonna die. Calm down, put your arms out, cuz no one’s really gonna die.” Soooo…

They were recording that song @ our church one night after service. When 10pm came around they had decided to call it quits because it was a Sunday night and they didn’t want to disturb the neighbors [our church is behind a neighborhood]. So as they were packing up and began to head outside, they walked out to find the Temecula police, screaming at them, guns drawn. After a nervous conversation, they realized it was a miscommunication and someone had called the cops. Crazy eh? I love songs with stories.

As for me, I have been working (crock-pot style) on my book. I have the majority of the outline completed and am working on the first draft. It has been a rough road. I have been reading alot of material on writing, how to write, what to write, etc and am a bit overwhelmed. Most all authors and commentators are saying that, like everything, writing takes practice to get better. Bummer eh? But I guess I should have assumed so. So that is what I have been doing. Practicing writing. Writing letters, writing stories, writing journals, writing blogs, writing songs, and writing the book. But one of my favorite song-writers and worship leaders said something recently that has spurred me on to further perseverance and perspective. She said:

If you’re an artist or creative person of some kind, your artistic “digestive system” is your heart, mind, senses, and your soul. So if something affects your soul, it affects your art.

We are finding our place in the beautiful brokenness that is humanity and observing and recording what we discover along the way. I think the greatest art will always come from honest descriptions/depictions of our experience in the great in-between of being human.

~Brooke Fraser
Isn’t that just beautiful? Well said Brooke. Well said. So in whatever you do, whatever your art is, let it be real. From your heart. And I will try to do the same.

~JM

PS. Here are some recording day pics.

Sweet things come out of boredom.

Ty, makin us sound good on ProTools.

Head-phones hair!

Quiet on the set
^^^Opinions, two-cents, questions and ramblings are welcome. And go above. Go ahead. Try it.

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