If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
– 1 John 1:6
Back in 2013, I originally imagined the new record as a concept album called Light Songs for Heavy Souls, and I wanted each song to take the listener on a journey from darkness to light. Every Hidden Thing would have been a pivotal song where the subject matter of doubt, sin, and shame effectively got “burned away” by a conversion experience.
I’m not quire sure how it happened, but the spaciest, most dynamic song on Flight Metaphor also ended up being the most biblically-inspired. Throughout the entire song, I’m playing around with the biblical metaphors of fire, light, and blood as agents of purification. Two passages of scripture in particular, 1 John 1:5-9 and Zechariah 13 had the most influence on my choice of imagery:
“I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.”
– Zechariah 13:9 (Click here for the full chapter)
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
– 1 John 1:5-9
Musically, I wrote Every Hidden Thing as a love letter to Thrice’s 2009 album, Beggars. I know I’ve mentioned their influence on my songwriting many times before, but if you haven’t listened to this album yet, do it now.
Lyrics:
Stuck in between material things
and the unseen
We play in the dark with complete disregard
for the sunrise
Burn it all away
Every hidden thing is set on fire
Step into the light
Expose the underside
And come out clean
Blood washes clean
Flame purifies every misdeed
Walk in the light
As he is in the light
You can stream and purchase Flight Metaphor via Bandcamp, iTunes, and Spotify.