Carolyn Stilwell of Celtic music's LOOSE GOOSE gives her track-by-track comments on the new 'Face Yourself...For The World To Ponder' album
"Angel Of The Night"
Many people are becoming
increasingly dazzled by the idea of angels and of course the New Age
is echoing that. I believe that there is a holy order of angels who
are sometimes sent into our world but that not every being of light is
holy... Anything that draws men's souls away from God is not of him
and "Angel Of The Night" warns of the terrible danger of those who
masquerade as angels of light!
"The Living Stone"
I once passed a shop with a
box of so called living stones with strange painted faces in its
window. They were used as charms and it moved me quite profoundly
because Christ is described in I Peter as the living stone and so much
of what the New Age has to offer is a distortion of the reality of the
gospel. Jesus was a master story teller who used very ordinary things
to take us deep into the meaning of something and I wondered what
might happen if such a person came today and told of a miraculous
stone that lives and breathes and has the power to change lives
forever... This song is about a seemingly impossible quest and of an
unexpected encounter with the living Lord.
"Optical Illusion"
Every life has a purpose, a
meaning, a beginning and an end and yet life itself can seem strange
and confusing - a sort of enchanting optical illusion compared with
the reality of the one that will follow. This song is about someone
falling right through the hourglass of their life and of having to
face the consequence of standing before a Holy God...
"Arise Dance"
There is an extraordinary bit in a
poem by Edwin Muir about a singer who will one day "'hang the apple
back on the tree" and this is a wonderful picture of the only one who
can actually undo the consequences of the Fall! It sometimes seems to
me that this world is like a winter garden filled with barren trees
that will only flower again when they hear the awesome truth that
there is nothing that they have ever done that cannot be undone...
This is a sort of Celtic fairytale and its chorus is taken directly
out of Song Of Songs.
"Back To Avalon"
We were asked to re-release
this track from the 'Break Over Me' album by a Christian outreach that
ministers into lives that are caught up with New Age teachings. Avalon
is another name for Glastonbury and the lyrics of this song speak of
the ancient quest for God and the despair of the human soul without
him! There is a lot of me in it I'm ashamed to say because I sometimes
wander from God and have to make the journey back to him... "Back To
Avalon" is for all who are searching and for everyone who is further
from God than from where they could be.
"Rapunzel"
There have been moments in my life
when I have built terrible towers for myself - moments when I have
been hurting very badly and have retreated into a place inside my own
thoughts. Sometimes I just get so overcome with everything that I rant
and rave at God and forget to be still and to try to listen to him.
But our God has infinite patience and he is forever waiting to unlock
those towers and to restore us once again into a perfect and
everlasting relationship with himself.
"Glastonbury Night"
Hundreds of years ago the
Abbey at Glastonbury was the heart of a vibrant Christian community
and once again many believers are beginning to gather in this place
which is now so often associated with the New Age. On a summers night
last year as around 3.000 of us worshipped together amongst the Abbey
ruins I knew that God really is doing a new thing over this land...and
that souls who are searching are having divine encounters on nights
such as that one at Glastonbury!
"Bird Of Peace"
"Bird through the years you have
stilled all my tears and unsleeping bird your song through the ages of
time has rung, it's because of your love for me, bird of peace..."
Sammy Horner, my producer, says that there is something a bit special
about "Bird Of Peace" and it is definitely 'producer's favourite'.
David Lewis wrote its hauntingly beautiful music for me to put words
to and it always makes me think of God's Spirit soaring through time
like some great untameable bird! The wild goose is a Celtic symbol for
the Holy Spirit and "Bird Of Peace" is about that bird.
"Eve Of Resurrection"
Sometimes I wonder how
Christ's disciples must have felt on the night before his resurrection
when they were facing almost unbearable despair and it makes me think
of the mystery of autumn and the new life that will eventually spring
from out of it. Sometimes I find it hard to understand that God is
always with me in the storms that I have to face and this song is
about that, about pushing on through those nights to the new dawn that
will surely follow.
"With Every Blessing (T-Hule Beannachd)"
Sammy
Horner based this song, one of my very favourites, on an ancient
Celtic blessing and it calls upon every believer in Christ to watch
over those that we come across in this beautiful world of ours. David
Lyon guest produced it and I asked if he could somehow capture the
feeling of the eastern stuff that so many 'travellers' end up
exploring. He has done something quite remarkable with it and I know
that it will indeed bless many many people.
"Home"
Home is the place where we know we belong
and yet so often we take it for granted until we find ourselves in a
place where we don't belong! "Home", written and sung by my guest
vocalist Helen Turner, is poignant and heart wrenching and I believe
it will move many to tears as they too hasten to be in that place of
unconditional love where God is at the centre.
"The Battle Of Evermore"
I can't even begin to
imagine what it is going to be like during the last days of the world
but I think that there will be those who will rejoice in the return of
the Warrior King and others who will try to flee in terror! This song
is a call to war inspired by the book of Joel and in it I've tried to
paint a sort of end time dream - a dream about a dismal battle raging
in unseen dimensions and of the total devastation of life without the
light of the gospel.