Song Of The Week - May 8

Busy week it's been, hasn't it? We've finally truly started on working towards SNL, so that should be keeping us quite occupied for the next little while haha! In all honesty, we have an awesome list of songs that are also very difficult to pull off... at least with doing the songs justice. But I believe that if we work hard at it, as well as focus on the main reason that we're playing, we can provide our peers with a night of worship that will be hard to forget. I think that this month we should all remember to work hard (yes, at home too :P), and keep our focus on what we're trying to accomplish. I know that everything will work out, when it comes to it.

This week we welcome back an old face for some of you, giving us some new material to ponder, analyze, and enjoy. I have waited some time for some new music from them, and they haven't dissapointed me.

Close Your Eyes - Future Of Forestry, Travel EP

"Trust will be the light tonight/So close your eyes this time..."

It has been too long since I have heard anything new from Future Of Forestry. Yes, they did release an EP this past December, but there is a great difference between new material and new arrangements for older Christmas songs. When I first heard FOF's first album Twilight, it took me a while to get used to it. But after awhile, they quickly turned into one of my favorite bands. The lead singer and composer, Eric Owyoung, uses the little that he has in terms of instruments and sounds, and forms it into something beautiful. It absolutely astounds me how much he can stir the emotions with as little as a guitar and his voice. His musicianship, and his heart for Christ, just proves to us that nothing has to be overly extravagant to be considered great.

Close Your Eyes is the Travel EP's one true ballad, and my... does it ever speak a lot. Not just in the lyrics, but in the arrangement in which Owyoung chose to present it to his listeners. It is simply an acoustic guitar, backed up with violins swirling around, providing intricate harmonies. But I can honestly say, this is one of the most intimate songs, if not the most intimate, song I have heard yet this year. The chorus is the kicker for me... It causes my mind to explode with interpretations and symbolical images.

Do you remember this one game, where one person closed their eyes, and the other gave them instructions on where to go to get to a point safely? It was cool, and oftentimes funny. But whether you know it or not, the game was trying to teach you about trust. To close one's eyes is to let go of some sort of certainty. We all know it. We tend to trust and believe what our eyes can see, and it gives us comfort to be able to discern the different shapes and sizes of this world. But to let go of that, to close one's eyes... be it in a physical or symbolic sense, we begin to fear, and certainty begins to wane. That's because as humans, we need to have control, or we begin to fall apart. When you close your eyes, you have to trust, you have to have faith that whoever is giving you instructions will be able to get you there safely. Do you find that this is often what happens with God? It's so hard to trust something when you can't see what's coming in front of you. Life is full of unforseen circumstances, and it's in our nature to want to have control of it all. Sooner or later though, we are going to have to realize that we can't, that we have to trust, and have faith that things will work out. In this sense, you have to remember that God has a plan for you... and you're going to have to trust in Him, and let Him be the light that shines upon your path. We can't do it all alone, so let Him take some of the burden for you. It's a hard to let go... but trust in Him. He'll be your light.

Close Your Eyes - http://www.mediafire.com/?tznw3rl5mia