This month I released my debut album Finding Faith! I can’t quite believe it has actually happened, but I am so grateful to all my supporters, whether that’s family, friends or fans. I hope you all enjoy listening to this new music and I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
However, it is not only music I can share with you, so for this month’s blog, I thought I’d give a little behind the scenes info on why and how we created all the songs on Finding Faith.
Before I start, here are some links to the album/concert in case you want to follow along:
1. We Are One
Composing:
I’d been wanting to write a song based on the verse “love thy neighbour” for a while, but by the time I got round to it (in 2021), a film adaptation of the musical The Prom, started showing on Netflix with a great song in called Love Thy Neighbour, so I decided to switch the main focus of the song onto one of my other favourite verses “we are all one in Christ Jesus” which still gets across the message I wanted to send, probably even more so. I also thought it was a great start to the album as it makes it clear the setting in which I hope these songs can be enjoyed by everyone.
Producing:
The album track involves singing from myself, my Dad, Stephen, my sister, Esther, my brother-in-law, Josh and my husband, Zak, and my Mum, Helen, on harmony. It took longer to edit with all these voices but I knew it was worth it once I heard the final version! Thank you to you all for helping me deliver this song!
Feature to look out for:
One of my favourite parts of the recording is the trumpet descant in the final chorus!
2. Brave
Composing:
I wrote Brave back in 2016 and released the first version 5 years later as November 2021’s Song of the Month. I can’t remember much about writing it, only that it was a song to express how God supports us throughout all the changes in life.
Producing:
This was probably one of the easiest songs on this album to arrange, record and produce a drum part we were happy with. It also features some wonderful tenor recorder by my Mum, Helen Birch, which carries the tune when the voice isn’t.
Feature to look out for:
One of notes I’m most proud of my singing on in this album is the final note of the bridge- “brave” on A4.
3. How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place
Composing:
This piece was originally written in 2015, based on Psalm 84. My initial performances of it were on voice and guitar but I have loved developing different versions incorporating choir and harp.
Producing:
This version of it features harp and a duet of voices: myself and my Mum. It is one of only two tracks on this album that doesn’t include piano and instead builds up in harmony and texture with virtual wind and string instruments.
Feature to look out for:
One of my favourite moments is the line “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, Ooh,” in the last chorus.
4. Your Love
Composing:
Your Love is one of the more recently written songs on this album (2021) and takes inspiration from one of my favourite Psalms (100). It is a simpler verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse chorus structure as I try and explore different forms and structures in my songs.
Producing:
This was another relatively quick song to record as we could break it up into sections. It also involves the first clarinet solo on this album, recorded by Helen Birch.
Feature to look out for:
The clarinet’s countermelody in verse 3.
5. Too Good For Words
Composing:
This song is another older one from 2015, drawing on Psalm 73 for inspiration.
Producing:
Getting the right speed for the recording was difficult as the verse has a lot of words to fit in and the chorus felt like it should move on. Hopefully we pulled it off!
Feature to look out for:
Lyrical reference to one of my other songs- “I smile at everything you do” in the bridge.
6. My God
Composing:
I wrote this song during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. It is based on Psalms 18 and 94, which I found particularly helpful during lockdown, to know that even when our path is blocked, the Lord still protects us.
Producing:
Balancing the cellos so they didn’t make the piece too bottom-heavy was challenging but bringing in a violin part for the last chorus seemed to help.
Feature to look out for:
G2 chords in the 2nd and 4th lines of the verses.
7. We Shout For Joy
Composing:
This was the most recent song I wrote to go on the album (2021). It is based on Psalm 59 as a joyful song of praise. I also wrote it in mind to sing with my Mum after I was reminded how well our voices go together during my 24-hour Singathon.
Producing:
I wanted this to be simple instrumentation of voice, piano, guitar, bass and drums but during production I felt the last chorus lacked a countermelody, so we quickly added one on virtual clarinet.
Feature to look out for:
All of the bridge!
8. O Lord You Are So Wonderful
Composing:
This song was written back in 2011 so when I was 11 or 12. I’d sort of composed bits and pieces before then, but this was the first full song that I remember writing. I’m not saying it’s my best one and I have edited some of the lyrics since then, but I still wanted to include it on this album as a reminder of how it all started. It's pretty simple music-wise but it wasn’t written to be complex, it was just my song of praise to God at the time and it still is.
Producing:
I introduced an instrumental passage to feature clarinet and other winds, but unfortunately we left it too late to get a real recording so we had to use virtual instruments instead. This was fine for most parts but the tune sounded better on flute than clarinet so we had to change plans a bit, but I hope it still works well!
Feature to look out for:
Probably my favourite parts are the choruses.
9. Smile
Composing:
Written in March 2015, Smile was the first song that really got my song writing skills noticed. I performed it in Church, at School and at the Liverpool Pentecost Pageant. I’m glad it’s still a firm favourite as it won my World Cup of Songs last year.
Producing:
After releasing Smile as one of my first songs in December 2020, I wanted to make it a bit different on this album. We didn’t change much as we didn’t want to make it too crowded but just added some strings and timpani alongside the voice, flute, clarinet, piano, guitar and drum kit.
Feature to look out for:
Build up of instruments in the bridge, especially on “In You we are restored”.
10. Footprints
Composing:
Footprints is a fairly early song from 2014 (though it has been edited since). I based it on the Footprints in the Sand poem, which I really loved and at the time hadn’t heard any other songs about.
Producing:
Like Smile, the album version of Footprints is a bit different to the original release, with more strings and a prominent flute part played beautifully by Zak Birch-Price.
Feature to look out for:
The flute solo in the instrumental.
11. I Am Yours
Composing:
I Am Yours was also written in 2014. I really can’t remember much about why I wrote it or what I based it on, but I do know it is a song of praise to God.
Producing:
This recording is different to many of the other songs as the instrumental parts involve brass, rather than the strings and winds which feature in many others. The hardest part of balancing was making sure the trumpet parts weren’t too loud!
Feature to look out for:
Trumpet descant in the final chorus.
12. Let Me Draw Near To You
Composing:
The tune for this song actually came to me while I was brushing my teeth one evening (2021), quickly followed by the first Bible verse I memorised, “come near to God and He will come near to you” (James 4v8). So I used this verse that I knew so well to help me set words to the tune I had just created and it has probably ended up as one of my favourite songs on this album. The album recording also features me playing violin, which was the first instrument I played in Church to make music for God. So this songs is a song of firsts: the first Bible verse I memorised, the first instrument I used to praise God and the first song I wrote while brushing my teeth!
Producing:
This is meant to be more minimal instrumentation, which was useful when giving us less to edit. Though it was still a challenge to balance the violin part with me singing the tune and Zak singing harmony.
Feature to look out for:
The chords and suspension in the 6th line.
13. I Will Trust In You
Composing:
I Will Trust In You was also written in 2021, based on some older melodic compositions. It draws some inspiration from Psalm 31: 9-15 and Psalm 121:1-3 with a view to create a song acknowledging the trials humans face, but how much trusting in God can help us.
Producing:
This song had the most tracks out of any other on this album, featuring 6 voices, piano, bass, drum kit, percussion, 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 3 horns, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, oboe, 2 bassoons and timpani. As you can guess it took a long time to produce!
Feature to look out for:
Lead in and out of bridge- the effect to lead in and the build up of voices and instruments to lead out.
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