What You Do To My Heart

So I do this thing where I go back and listen to a bunch of my old songs, pouring over each one, borderline obsessively.  I don't do this because I'm in love with myself (Kanye. DOWN BOY.) but because my creative mind is almost always hearing new things each time I listen to the tune.  New ideas form, or old ones get cut.  It's truly one of my favorite parts of the creative process!
Anyway,
I wrote this a while back and released it as a single.  I hope you enjoy it!

I Give Myself

Growth is good.  It's essential actually, but that doesn't change the fact that the process absolutely sucks sometimes.  I've found myself in one of those seasons.  I'm completely surrounded by so many amazing things, but in the midst of these blessings I am growing.  Some of this growth feels like fire burning my skin, when in fact it is burning away that which needs not be there.
This song is just a little peace of the process I'm in.

Perspective: Creative Greatness

What does it really take to be a great songwriter?  Not just a good one, but a GREAT one.  I don't think the answer is the same for every songwriter.  Each of us has our own unique sounds and lyrical ideas, so it would be impossible for all of us to share the same idea of "greatness".  And let me be clear about the term "greatness".  I'm not looking at this through a "I wanna be gloriously famous and in the lime light for all of eternity" lens.  Greatness is not always seen by the public eye.
For me, being a great songwriter means looking through the eyes of someone else.  It means empathizing with what they might be feeling in their circumstances.  If it's pain, trying to understand it, crafting those emotions in to lyrics.  If it's joy, grabbing on to that, forming it in to a melody.

Much of the time we can become locked in to our own life experiences.  We forget that there is an entire world of creative inspiration right in front of us just waiting to be tapped in to.  So plug in!  Create a story line in your head, maybe even write it out, and then try to transfer it in to a song.  Use your creative muscles to break out of your usual box and try something different.

Here is a song I wrote back in 2009.  While the song sounds as though I'm singing from my own perspective, I actually wrote it with a dear friend in mind.  They were in the midst of a battle with their self image and the truth of who God created them to be.  I walked with them as a support beam, but it was hard to see them experiencing so much pain.  I imagined myself in their shoes, and composed this song.  Fast forward to today and I've found that this song rings truer now in my own heart than when I originally wrote it.

Breath You In

Sometimes the best ideas for a song come from just singing, worshiping God, letting whatever comes out come out.  I'm not saying that this song is the ultimate achievement of my life, but it is intimate and genuine, and I happen to like some of the lyrics.  It's good when you like your own lyrics.
I will likely do some refining, but the songs message will stay the same.  God's presence is substance.  It's tangible.  Something to bask in, or breath in.  And the best part is that He wants to be near us just as we want to be near Him.
The chorus of this song simply says "Oh".  I believe that we sometimes just don't have words to express all that's on our hearts.  I didn't in that moment so I just let my heart groan.

With all of that said, I hope you are refreshed by "Breath You In".

A Re-refreshing

I believe I've already shared this song in a previous post, but I felt like sharing it again.
Sometimes it's good to go back and let certain things refresh you.  Today, this song is exactly that.  Yeah, I am that guy that goes back and listens to his own stuff over and over again, sometimes obsessively.  Today is a little different though because I wasn't listening with the intention of changing anything.  I was instead settling back in to the memory of the moment I sat down for what was supposed to be just another songwriting session but morphed in to an intimate time of worship.
As I sat here on my lunch break, letting the sounds pour over my ears again, God began to whisper away thoughts that I've given way to much authority to.  He was refreshing me all over again.

My prayer is that this song serves as a refresher for you as well.  I cross my heart, and promise to record a high quality version for you later.  Right now, you'll just have to put up with fairly decent iPhone mic quality.

Soundcloud

Hey folks!!! Come check me out on Soundcloud!  Podcasts, musical snip it's, randomness.  It's all there!

Check this sample out!

http://soundcloud.com/zach-trandum/musical-medicine-your-refrain/s-3buNo