I haven't had a lot of time for photo projects for hire lately with my work and school. However, when Powell's mom, Bianca, emailed to see if I was available to do a follow-up to my shoot last year of her son's first birthday, I had such fond memories of the celebration last year that I couldn't refuse.
Here is a collection of 5 songs I wrote and recording in about a week as part of an assignment for a class on the first five books of the Bible (aka the Pentateuch).
I wanted to explore the humanity and emotional perspectives of the characters that first come into contact with the God of the Bible and are the first to meet him, in a manner of speaking. Each song is written in the first person as though they are telling you part of their story. The recordings are brittle and sketchy, but hopefully the stories on which they hang can bear the weight of repeated listening.
You can stream them in your browser right here (even on your iPhone) or you can click either of the links to download and share them (all of this thanks to the fantastic bandcamp.com).
Thanks to John Goldingay for encouraging me to think beyond Adam; to Melody Lumpkin for encouraging me to write a song; to Luke Wakefield, Jon Damiani and Matt Cleveland for your sympathetic ears and early, positive feedback.
Update (9/15/10):
I heard back from John Goldingay today. He is the Pentateuch Professor for whom I prepared these for class credit, and quite frankly, one of the best teacher's I've had. You can read what he had to say below. Needless to say, I'm pleased.
"These were great - A. I was afraid they were just going to be using the stories as jumping off points for modern thoughts, but I liked the way you kept reflecting things that were there in the text and making links I hadn't thought of before - like Noah and the stench and the wine. Well done. And accessing it was very easy, so thanks."
So, in Levar Burton voice, "you don't have to take my word for it!" Check out the songs and tell me what you think, even if you don't give me an A.
