I’m pleased to announce the release of a new album: Above These City Lights (Live). (Get it here.)
We recorded it last fall on the Counting Stars release tour, and then things got busy. Not only did we immediately hit the road for the Christmas tour, I spent all Spring writing The Monster in the Hollows. Meanwhile, the indubitable Todd Robbins (who mixed Resurrection Letters II and engineered Counting Stars–not to mention DC Talk’s Jesus Freak, but who’s counting?) took all the files from the live show and made them sound even purtier.
The project was originally intended to be an EP that highlighted a few of the songs from Counting Stars but when we heard how “High Noon”, “After the Last Tear Falls”, and especially the Rich Mullins masterpiece “Calling Out Your Name” turned out, we decided to make it more of a full-length record. At long last, the album is ready for your ears.
One of my favorite things about this album is the cover. My son Aedan is an unabashed Bird Nerd. He loves ornithology. He also loves painting and illustration. The starling on the cover is one of his excellent paintings–that it made the cover is all the more delightful because he’s only twelve years old. I paid him $25 for it. (Don’t tell him that that’s way lower than the going rate. I don’t want him to get too big for his britches.) He and his pal Cooper have an art blog called The Crimson Phoenix, and they’ve been displaying their drawings there for a long time. By all means, drop in and drop them a line of encouragement. I’m so proud to see how hard they’re working at their craft.
It goes without saying that Ben Shive and Andy Gullahorn are amazing. I’m reminded of that all over again when I listen to their tasteful, skillful performances on this record. As much as I love studio work, and as much as I love songwriting, my real pleasure is the exchange between you and I at a live concert. The connection is the thing. I hope you can hear the gratitude we felt as we played these songs, and I hope that somehow, thanks to the wonder of all the ones and zeroes that make up an MP3 file, they’ll connect with you, too.
Thanks also to Centricity Music for putting this whole thing together. I’m so grateful for them. And not just because they make short films that exploit my vast nerdiness.
I hope you enjoy the music.
AP