Shane & Shane - Glory In The Highest (A Christmas Record)
ARTIST.....: Shane & Shane
TITLE......: Glory In The Highest (A Christmas Record)
LABEL......: Inpop
URL........: www.shaneandshane.com
RIP DATE...: Sep-24-2008
STORE DATE.: Oct-14-2008
GENRE......: Rock
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 41,9 MB
Track Listing:
01 - O Holy Night 03:42
02 - O Come O Come Emmanuel 04:36
03 - Away In A Manger 03:02
04 - It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas 02:53
05 - Born To Die 04:15
06 - Silent Night 03:23
07 - White Christmas 03:23
08 - Holiday 03:38
09 - Glory In The Highest 03:39
10 - O Come Let Us Adore Him 02:19
─────
34:50 min
Release Notes:
Shane & Shane have successfully put a new face on worship with
their last three records, tours dotted with sold-out shows, and
now a new record, Clean. Rather than following trends or repeating
what's already been done, the Shanes have kicked their impassioned
blend of acoustic rock and pop-laced-worship up a level with their
new release, recorded entirely in the duo's new studio in
Duncanville, TX.
Clean is the latest in a string of 'surprise' hit records from
long-time indie faves-turned-hot-selling Christian music
stalwarts, whose two most recent projects, 2003's Carry Away and
this year's fan project, Upstairs, were met with Top 10 sales
debuts. The duo, known for their dueling acoustic guitars and
searing harmonies, tasted radio success last year with the
impassioned "Be Near" and "Mercy Reigns," previews Clean with an
amped-up cover of Twila Paris' classic worship anthem, "He Is
Exalted."
"We sort of struggled with the title," says Shane Barnard, "but we
ended up with a majority of the songs that had to do with grace."
Those songs describe "the fight of not feeling clean, the fight of
what we feel like we look like to God, versus the truth of how He
really sees us," he says.
That theme works out over several of the songs, chief among them
the standout "You And I."
"'You and I' is really just about that struggle and about what we
have to offer God," says Barnard. "It's a battle. The bridge on
that is one of my favorite parts of the CD. It's just God saying
'you're clean, you're clean,' and man coming in and saying 'I'm
not.' The song goes back and forth, but it ends with God saying
'that's what I'm wanting-a broken and contrite spirit.'"
He stresses that we have nothing to offer God. "It seems like we
have such a mindset of trading when it comes to our understanding
of God-if you do something good, you receive something good. If
you do something bad, you receive something bad. Unfortunately
that's how a lot of people relate to God. It's really hard to
understand that our currency of 'doing good' is really worthless
to God, and that His grace is truly given for free."
The duo chose to give a facelift to Twila Paris' "He Is Exalted,"
a song which proves a fresh take on a now-classic song. Barnard
says that's a song "I've played every single week of my Christian
existence. Over like 14 years? That's a lot of weeks à" The pair
has often closed its concerts with the song, which they say
reaches across generational lines. "It's a very uniting song,"
says Barnard.
Another high point on the record is the powerful, propulsive
"Fringes," inspired by Job 26. The first part of the chapter
"talks about a big God, His creation, how 'He stretches out the
north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.' That's the
first line of the song. Thoughts like that fill that chapter in
Job, and then at the very end, it says 'but these are but the
fringes of his ways.'"
"The point is that everything-everything-we see, here on the earth
is just a fringe on the garment of God, a tiny peek at who He is,"
he says. "I consider that everything, not just the normal things
we think of--trees, creation, etc., but everything that has been
created whether it's a laptop, a guitar amplifier, you name it.
Everything is a reflection of God's amazing creativity."
Shane Everett adds, "Everything that we've seen or that's been
developed is what the human race has just stumbled upon. We just
figure stuff out-we don't come up with anything new." Concludes
Barnard, "We just kind of unfold layers."
The process of making the record might also be described as
'unfolding layers,' as the Shanes and their band, including
drummer/producer Will Hunt (aka, electronica artist apt.core)
carefully crafted these songs one by one at the duo's new
headquarters and studio. Though more polished than previous
releases, it still retains their indie spirit and includes
fan-favorite "Yearn" and the praise chorus "None Like You."
Says Everett, "We did this record a little differently. We
recorded songs one at a time-drums, bass, everything-having the
whole team there for the whole experience" as opposed to having a
session player come in and play drums for the whole record in a
day or two, followed by other players each contributing
separately. "It really helped in the development of the songs," he
says. "It's a great process. We'll probably never do it any other
way again."
That allowed for the group to get each song just right. But
setting up their own studio was not without setbacks. Says
Barnard, "We started a day after the drywall went up. You just
have a thousand connection points-gear, console, tube this analog
that, it's all wired from room to room. We had several delays that
lasted for several hours because something wasn't working or
wasn't connected right. We probably lost 30% of our gear from day
one-we turned it all on and some of it didn't work."
The trade-off was being able to record as they wanted to: "We had
all of the musicians there for the whole project. Our electric
guitar player, Taylor Johnson-at least half of everything he
played went through a $40 amp. The month previous to the studio
going up, we'd rummaged through pawn shops, thrift stores, and
eBay and collected about 7 guitar amps, just junker amps, buzzing
and making extra noise everywhere. We just got to explore. On
Carry Away, we would use between 60 and 70 individual tracks for
each song, but on Clean, we probably have 20-30 fewer tracks on
each song, but it just sounds bigger-we didn't use the same
guitars and same amps for all the electric parts. We got to really
play around a little bit to get some amazing sounds," says
Barnard.
The release of Clean promises both to appeal to their college and
young professional fan base and reach further into the soccer mom
audience that Christian radio targets. They'll take their new
songs out on the road again this October with special guest and
new label-mate Mat Kearney. Fans can expect a blend of old and new
favorites cast in a worshipful setting typical of Shane & Shane
shows.s
"We don't sing songs because they're old or new," says Barnard.
"We latch onto songs that are true, that are singable." Concludes
Everett, "No matter how we feel, the truths are absolute. When I
sing a wrong note, it's distracting, but it doesn't change the
truth of the message. We're called to do this. We're called to
proclaim the greatness of God."