So here we are two weeks out after Redivivus was released. It's been incredibly humbling to stumble upon reviews of the album and blogs that have been gracious enough to help promote it. It's kind of bizarre to me to see people actually really liking something that we did. And I have to step back and remember that it is entirely God's work and not ours. We are just vessels and would be completely useless without Him. I wanted to take some time to write out some of the themes and ideas behind the songs and the album as a whole. Hopefully it’ll give you a better understanding of the concepts of the record without hindering your own interpretation of the art.
After the school year ended for us this past May, we packed up all our gear and headed up to John's house in Cape Neddick, Maine, a small town on the coast. We had originally planned to have it be an EP of the five songs we thought really represented us as a band and that pointed in the direction we were going both musically and spiritually. With that goal in mind, we headed down to John’s basement studio and tracked drums for the five songs in three days. As the summer progressed, we found time here and there to do bass and then guitars. Somewhere along the line we decided to add three extra songs that we felt contributed to the overall feel of the album. These three songs ended up being some of my favorites because of how simplistic they are but also how incredibly significant they are to the motifs of the record. In the end, we came out of the studio with a 45 minute, 8 song album that none of us had expected when the project first was underway. We didn’t write these songs trying to “achieve” anything or to force any sort of concept. It just sort of happened which is (to me anyway) unavoidable evidence that it was God working through what we were doing. As such, I want to deflect the praise for it as much as possible (but I’ll take the criticism).
“Redivivus” means literally to “come back to life” or to be reborn. I’ll be honest, I decided on the name because I saw it on dictionary.com as the word of the day during the time when we were wrestling over titles for the record (we still thought it was going to be an EP at that point). At first glance (even in my mind) it seems like a pretty stupid way to name an album. But then I think of how amazingly providential God is and I know He uses little things like that to reveal Truth. I thought the word was original and conveyed the sorts of ideas that the album does. So I clicked on the little audio pronunciation icon on the webpage, heard the computer lady say it out loud (Red-uh-vahy-vuhs) and I was sold.
We took almost all of the imagery, concepts, and track titles for the album directly out of the Old Testament. I want the music to speak for itself but basically this album is about the incredible, unfathomable hope and peace that doesn’t make any sense that comes from Jesus Christ and His love for us. The record is very dark in spots but also very hopeful. God never intended us to go through life without any problems. In fact, life can be incredibly painful, sorrowful, and desperate. That’s why having a God who is so faithful, loving, and gracious is so amazing to me. I don’t have an answer for why we go through hard things but I know that God came to Earth as a man to feel the exact same suffering as us and through His suffering He gave us life and love with no bounds. With that in mind, Redivivus turned into somewhat of a mostly instrumental worship album with sparse vocals that praise the Most High in the middle of the worst in life.
The first track title, “We Hung Our Harps” comes directly from Psalm 137. The people of Judah had been exiled from their homeland because of their sin and their disobedience of God and sat near the rivers of Babylon while their captors tormented them by asking them to sing joyful songs of Zion. They hung their harps on the trees there and some rabbinic traditions say that the Jewish harpists even bit off their thumbs so that they couldn’t play their instruments anymore. That is unbelievable despair. My brother Corey did the album art for Redivivus and we loved the image of the harps hanging on a tree by the river. The juxtaposition of this extremely depressing image with the hopeful title “Redivivus” really appealed to us because we thought it was a good illustration of the hope in the midst of despair. We may ask, “How could a loving and merciful God allow His people to go through something like that?” But then I remember that His love for them includes punishment because He wants them to be as good as they can be. God did not aimlessly punish them for their disobedience. It was for a very specific purpose: closer communion with Him, which is an amazing blessing. And God’s justice is always mixed with mercy. We got another idea for a track title (actually two) from Isaiah 62 where it talks about God bringing His people home after their punishment. It says, “They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.” God redeems His people even after they have been unfaithful to Him, committing adultery in effect. Yet His love is so powerful that He forgives them and continues to chase them even when they turn from Him. What a crazy picture of love.
My favorite image of the album is “Gomer (Returning Home)” which comes out of the book of the prophet Hosea. God told Hosea to marry a woman (Gomer) who he knew was an adulteress and who would be unfaithful to him. God used this as an illustration to show Hosea what it was like when Israel was unfaithful to Him. After Gomer cheats on Hosea, God tells Hosea to go and redeem her back from her other lover. Hosea pays the price to bring Gomer home. When I read that I pictured what it must have been like for Gomer as Hosea went and brought her back home. She had been caught in sin and shattered Hosea’s heart and betrayed his trust. Yet Hosea goes and pays the price to get her back and then loves her completely even after what she did to him. That is exactly what Christ did for us. We were trapped in our sin that breaks God’s heart. But instead of filing for spiritual divorce, God sent His Son as a man to Earth to pay the price so that we can be redeemed and be loved completely again by God. How He loves us! The idea for this song came from the picture of Gomer walking home with Hosea after she had been redeemed. She had done all this terrible stuff to him but he loved her anyway. And that is exactly what God does for us.
Another title that we took right out of the Old Testament was “A Voice From Behind” which is from Isaiah 30:21. It says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” No matter where we are in life, God is with us and He guides us if we allow Him to. When we try to light our own way in the darkness, we will always fall.
Lastly, Sinai is about wandering in life. The song uses the illustration of the Israelites wandering and waiting for the Lord to provide for them. They questioned Him, were fearful, struggled with doubts about their own strength and the Lord’s strength. In the end, God, through His infinite love, provided land and blessing for His people. In the trials of our wandering and struggles, there is a Hope that we can cling to.
Sorry this has been really long-winded. Thank you so much for your support in this endeavor. We really appreciate it. We hope that you enjoy listening to Redivivus as much as we enjoyed making it. My prayer is that it might give you hope in hard things and that it points you to the One who sustains.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Through the Most High,
Jared
