Music Matters: Two Versions of Aaron Keyes' "Sovereign Over Us"

Last week I shared about some new music I have been listening. This post is a closer examination of one of the songs I linked to.

A few months ago I found out about a worship leader (lead worshipper, song leader, praise and worship artist, church music leader [pick your title]) named Aaron Keyes.  The first song I heard from him was "Sovereign Over Us," a tender and powerful song whose lyrics delicately balanced acknowledging our suffering as people (making it in some sense a song of lament) while also fully giving God his place as being "sovereign over" the trials of life, that God works all things ultimately to his glory (making it a song of both intimate and transcendent praise).  In the same way, the music of the particular version I heard (recorded live for his project In The Living Room) matched the lyrics perfectly.  The music starts slowly and builds throughout but never to the point where it overwhelms.  Instead the music is always inviting the worshippers in, allowing them to sing it themselves and make the song their own.  As are the lyrics, so is the music tender and its a tenderness that brings strength and healing.



In other words the text and arrangement match.  They complement each other.  The song would not work as a loud or quick-tempoed arrangement.  It would not work if the instruments were not sparse.  It would not work if it built up too much so that it became overbearing.

It would appear though in recording the song for the studio album on which the song in contained Keyes and his producers (one of them being Stu G. from Deliriou5?) thought differently.  Here is that version of "Sovereign Over Us" from his album Dwell:



Did your heart rate increase steadily?  Did you wish it was slower, or did you like the fact that it was so fast you had no time to contemplate the lyrics?  Did you wish the piano was not playing that agitated many noted riff throughout most of the song?  Did you like the drum beat which seemed like it was constantly trying to throw us off balance? Did you find yourself actually feeling the stress and burden the song was attempting--according to the lyrics--to lift off us, instead of the peace and sovereignty of God?  Taken by itself, there is nothing wrong with the music--I like intensity--but the music paired with those lyrics simply will not work--they are antithetical to each other, constantly pulling against each other, negating each others' intent.  The live version of the song has been crafted to be sung by people in a congregation; it intends to slow them down and bring them to a place where they are both contemplating and actually dwelling in God's presence.  The studio version was meant to be a radio-ready product.

Taking Time To Listen: New Music (for me)--Summer 2013

Admission: this picture is misleading.  None of the new music I purchased
was actually vinyl--this is just my wishful-thinking. Maybe someday...
(although my in-laws just bought me some Simon & Garfunkel on used vinyl. Nice!)

Towards the end of this past school year to my surprise I started receiving gifts everyday from the students, teachers, and parents of my school.  Apparently, someone decided it was "Headmaster Appreciation Week" and I was in no position to start objecting.  I received coffee beans, Beatles guitar picks, some CD's and a book, a slew of giftcards to restaurants, an itunes giftcard, and some good old archaic cash.  So with the itunes giftcard and about half of the money I purchased myself some music.  It has been a while since I have really bought music, so I went a bit crazy.  Only a few of my selections could be considered new, but they are new to me and I suspect will be new to a lot of other people as well, which is why I thought I would share.

 I have only just begun listening to this music myself, as there is really too much here to have fully ingested in such a short amount of time. My hope is that you will take some time to listen. You might find something you really like.

(And a big thanks to all the families at Aletheia School--hopefully you will see your gifts have been put to good use)