Whew! For as shutdown as 2020 and 2021 were, 2022 has been a whirlwind of activity. I've been teaching and playing a ton of events locally, but alas, there have still been very few chances to perform as Dan and Laurel and share songs from "After the Fire" for an actual listening audience. Cover tunes, Classical favorites, and a general mixtape of "what do you want to hear" has created a very full life lately - the life of working musicians, making a living, making people (hopefully!) happy. We can't complain really, but we miss performing the songs we've created together, and we're thrilled to share a new music video with you today! Please view below or here ----> https://youtu.be/B9TC0m0ZSyo
Some background on the song: Featured on "After the Fire,” the album we released earlier this year, If A Wave harnesses the uncertainty of the moment we’re living through and transforms it into hope. Usually quite determined to uncover all the “silver linings” (perhaps to a fault), I was in a funk, feeling hopeless and needing to shake off doubts and depression. Writing this song did the trick! Drawing metaphors from the natural world - water, fire, air - the song encourages us to remember that we're all connected, and asks us to take responsibility for the “waves” we create. “We’re still looking for the answers we thought we knew / And wishing on the same dreams the whole world through / You can’t part a wave from the sea."
A bit about the video: Filmed in parks, on an overpass, next to a church, and from a vantage point overlooking downtown Santa Cruz, California, my vision was to take the viewer on a journey of contrasts - light and shadow, peace and noise, linear architecture and flowing water - bolstering the persuasion that we might find what we’re looking for, not in autonomy and separation, but in acceptance and togetherness.
We hope you enjoy our efforts, and will consider sharing the song with anyone you know who could use a little hope these days 🙏🏽 ❤️ 🙏🏽
Song and video credits:
Lyrics and music by Laurel Thomsen.
Music also by Dan Frechette.
Arrangement by Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen.
Violin and Vocals by Laurel Thomsen.
Guitar by Dan Frechette.
Videography by Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen.
Video production and editing by Laurel Thomsen.
Lyrics:
If a wave began right here
Would you hold it tight and empty
Let it disappear
Or let it flow
Find other waves
Let it pick you up and carry you
Grow into an ocean
You can’t part a wave from the sea
(chorus) My world begins with me
From here to all I see
I own these wounds and the flowers that grow free
My world begins with me
And if love began right here
Would you still look for another
Hide away in your fear
Or would you feed
Its tiny light
Let it breath out with and through you
Merge with all the love out there
You can’t part a spark from the fire
We’re still looking for the answers we thought we knew
And wishing on the same dreams the whole world through
You can’t part a wave from the sea
And if peace began right here
Would you count it as your sweet luck
Push needy souls clear
Or set it free
On little wings
Small forces felt around the world
Spread out to eternity
You can’t part the breeze from the air
