GENRE: ALTERNATIVE
LABEL: INDEPENDENT
RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 23, 2008
RATING: 4 OUT OF 5

Nutshell Version:

“It Ends and Starts Again” is genuine music laced with genuine poetry. For a debut effort, Goodnight House sure has done a lot of things right. Their debut album is one that people ought to be paying attention to.

Full Version:

Goodnight House’s debut album “It Ends And Starts Again” is a breath of fresh air. In a year characterized by over-produced power pop, it is always nice to hear a sound that reminds you that there are people out there with the ability to do something different and artistically respectable.

“It Ends And Starts Again” is the kind of music you can imagine fading up in the background of movies like Juno, The Garden State or The Royal Tennenbaums. The light acoustic feel of this all-too-brief album works well with lead vocalist Joel Lane’s eclectic tone. Everything that made Dan Haseltine’s voice work on “Who We Are Instead”—Jars of Clay’s best album, if you were wondering—works here. And though Lane & Co. make no claims to be a Christian band, their music is within reach while also thinking on lofty topics in life.

The instrumental intro “Tail Lights Fading” starts out the album. Rarely is there a simple instrumental track that elicits a powerful picture, but the title forces the imagination to a place where one literally sees a car’s taillights fading into the darkness as they drive away.

“Flicker” fades through the intro with Joel Lane plucking lightly at his acoustic guitar before lending his vocals to the soft piece. Lane’s wife Meghan plays bells and lends her beautiful vocals to the song’s background (as she does on several of the album’s tracks). The two working in tandem blend well for a haunting sound. One senses vestiges of Iron & Wine or Over the Rhine.

“Two Minds” follows, slightly reminiscent of the latter-day Beatles. The song is a bit brighter in terms of sound. They betray nothing of the song’s message, though, as Lane croons, “Sometimes I think it best to not think much at all because every thought is a battle, and every battle makes me tired, and every day I am always tired…” In a sense, the song communicates a person in turmoil as he battles between two different versions of himself. This is not unlike the idea espoused in James 1:5-8, that speaks of a double-minded man being unstable in all his ways.

Title track “It Ends and Starts Again” is a an upbeat piece that features nice drums and banjo to compliment Lane’s vocals. Bass player Ron Thibault also lends his vocal chops to the piece and the layering is vivid.

“All The Wounds” could just as easily have been called “Hosea.” Anyone who has ever been through a difficult and uncertain relationship will certainly resonate with the lyrics on this song. They are intensely real and intensely raw. I’d even venture to say that this is the best tract on the entire album. Lane sings, “And I wish that you had never left/And I wish that you had not come back/Who’s to say that you will not leave again/And I wish that you had never left…” Whoa. I don’t think there is anything more real than those kinds of emotions communicated in song.

“Over Now” appropriately closes out the album and it seems like the perfect bookend to this album. A dissonant ballad, this song is astounding in its beauty and sincerity. Those who like deeply simple poetry will likely be moved to tears. I found myself moved and, at this moment, I am still not quite sure why it has taken me to this particular place. But, move me it has and move you it most likely will.

On this album, Lane is much like Pedro The Lion’s David Bazan, in that he is a jack of all trades. This project might contain a lot of contributors, but this really is the Joel Lane show in a number of ways. First and foremost, he’s the frontman. That is normally who fans of any great act will remember. However, Lane also plays a majority of the album’s instruments—guitars, bass, various keyboards, bells, banjo, mandolin and the lap steel.

“It Ends and Starts Again” is genuine music laced with genuine poetry. For a debut effort, Goodnight House sure has done a lot of things right. Some, such as Scarlet|Snow’s Mike Cowan and Indieheaven.com’s Kevin Mohr, believe that this is the year for independent music to make a big splash in the general market. With the state of big label music in flux, I think this might be the case. Independent music is certainly a much bigger pond to fish from. That being the case, let me be the first to turn you on to Goodnight House. Their debut album is one that people ought to be paying attention to.

You can listen to a few tracks here:
www.myspace.com/goodnighthousemusic

You can purchase and download the album here: www.digstation.com/ArtistAlbums.aspx?albumid=ALB000025728

You can purchase the CD here:
www.cdbaby.com

I was recently driving home from school, blaring a song I’ve listened to almost a million times. It’s called “Light Is Shining,” by Daniel Doss Band, and when I listened to it this particular time, two phrases of the lyrics practically slapped me in the face. While I love the song, I don’t recall these lyrics ever being quite so significant.

Wandering through His love
Lost inside His Love

Taken in context with the rest of the verse of the song, the two lines were attempting to explain the hugeness of our God. However, when I heard them this time, the words “wandering” and “lost” meant something different to me than they had in the past.

From week to week, I seem to go through different seasons. During some of them, I’m reminded that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now. Other days seem to be times of confusion and questioning and anticipation for what’s next in my life (whenever that is). I’m not confused in the sense that I doubt God’s existence or His hand in my life, but I often question where He’s taking me. Who I’ll be. Where I’m going. Where I’ll be in a few years.

I don’t know.

Sometimes the “not knowing” gives me a sense of wandering back and forth, a sense of being lost. These lyrics reminded me that regardless of whether or not I feel lost, I’m still inside of God’s love. His love is big enough to handle my questions and the confusion that seeps in from time to time, even along with the excitement and anticipation. He understands that I’m following Him with little or no idea of where He’s taking me, and He’ll lead me in ways He knows I can handle…. even when I don’t think I can handle them.

Ultimately, looking at the lyrics from this point of view made me thankful- not necessarily for the confusion, but for having a God big enough to handle my confusion with me. I’m thankful for a God who understands my endless questions and limitations and who still wants to stretch and use me. I’m thankful for a God whose love will always surround me, regardless of where in the world He sends me, or what He has for me to do. I’m thankful for a God that big.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of the talents. A man trusts three of his servants with different amounts of talents. One is given 5, one 2, and one 1. The first two double their talents before the master comes back, but the last simply buries his talent in the ground, and gives it back as it is. To the first two, the master says “Well done, good and faithful servant”, and he gives them more. The final servant he calls wicked and slothful, basically rebukes him, and casts him into the outer darkness.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t have an answer to what I’ve been thinking about in regards to this. God’s word says that if we confess with our mouth that Christ is Lord, and believe in our hearts, then we are saved (Romans 10). We know from James that faith without works is dead (James 2). This means that our actions will show that we truly believe. Why would we be striving to live a Christ-centered life if we didn’t truly believe? Why would we despise our sin so, if we weren’t saved? All these things I can recognize with.

But at the same time, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wasted the talents given to me. So many times I’ve just buried what God has given me, and handed it right back to Him as if it would be ok.

I guess what my struggle has been here, is this: I know that I am saved through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I know that I despise my sin, and I so desire and strive to live a Christ-centered life. But when I enter eternity, will he say “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”? That’s what I want, but I can’t justify it with how many talents I have wasted. Maybe I need to somehow reconcile this parable with the sinfulness of man and inability to save himself. I really don’t know at the moment. Maybe if you’re reading this you have some ideas to share that can shed some light on this.

Early morning rise
See the day so sweet.
Clouds roll in so wise
And the house you retreat.

Why today of all days?
The sun was blinding.
My day is rewritten other ways
The light I’m not finding.

Bound by the dark
Chained by the rain
The evil one has left a mark
In him I see pain.

I hope for another day
When the clouds roll out
And the sun comes up the bay
My happy heart shall have no doubt.

The windows are down and I’m humming to
my favorite songs while I slip down the
freeway sending God my love with a smile.
Is there anything greater than knowing
you’re alive because there’s someone out there
that loves you enough to lay down their life

despite their power to snuff out your life?
But not just another bedtime tale to
teach you how to live your life out there
in the realm of man, He is The God, The,
that loves unconditionally knowing
how unworthy you are. So with a smile,

I drive and even the world seems to smile
back. And just when I start to think my life
can’t get better, I start doubting. Knowing
that I might be sinning somehow and to
not know what I am doing wrong is the
worst feeling, save a few. And then it’s there,

flying towards me in black and white. There’s
a sign: Speed Limit 55. A smile
is the furthest thing from my mind as the
speedometer condemns me. Could my life
relate to this dilemma? It’s hard to
not conform and obey the law, knowing

that everyone else is not and knowing
that your obedience makes those people, there
in the mirror, despise your desire to
be good. Can you live righteously and smile
knowing that the way you’re living your life
is turning you into a thorn in the

side of society? This could be the
law that saves my life. You can live knowing
that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life,
but if the deeds to back you up aren’t there,
then how do you know you won’t trade a smile
for Christ when it counts? I make my choice to

change my speed to the speed limit of Christ.
Now I smile at the frowns that pass, knowing
there’s only His smile I’ll trade for my life.

My heart is broken in a million pieces,
But I surrender my soul and place my hope in Jesus.
To the heavens I reach out these unclean hands,
Where He wraps me in His love and takes me as I am.

From dusk until dawn, from day until night,
You make all my darkness transform into light.
From the seas to skies, from the West to the East,
Every string of sorrow You turn into peace.

I call You Father; You call me Child,
You are my strength in every season and trial.
Your love has found me; by grace I am saved,
You are the Truth, the Light, and the Way.

This world I walk through always leaves me dry,
But tonight this is my prayer to the Lord Most High,
The One who provides a love so pure and sweet,
“Jesus, Jesus - Let me be Your Hands and Feet.”

Where are you Lord?
Where are you God?
My heart’s forlorn
My soul downtrod

Where are you peace?
Where are you hope?
My tears must cease
My mind must cope

I am lonely here, you hear me?
Tossed by the sea, you see me?
I know You are, O great I am
O Adonai redeem me!

I really want to be a bride! Lately I feel like everyone I know is getting married, or engaged. In the past five years all four of my sisters have been married, in addition to about 14 of their friends and seven of my own! And that is only married - even more are engaged. So of course this makes me ponder my own wedding! I can’t wait; the only thing sad about getting married will be that I won’t get to plan it anymore! The colors, the music, the location, the food and of course, the most important thing of all…the dress!

And I will not deny that the groom possibility has crossed my mind once or twice. When I was 12 I started praying for my “future husband”. I prayed that he’d be surrounded by wonderful men of God who were steadfast in there beliefs. I prayed that he would be the spiritual leader in our relationship, and for his character, his patience, his gentleness and kindness. I even prayed that he would love to dance and have some kind of musical inclination! I prayed he’d be a hard worker and that his hands would reflect that. There is a whole list that I just lifted up to God in prayer every so often, and I filled a little journal of thoughts and of Bible verses to that mystery man so he could see how covered in prayer he was for years.

Regardless of all my prayers, whoever I marry is still going to be a guy, you know? He’ll still mess up, and he won’t be a reflection of that list to a tee. And thank goodness because if was I’d feel like a horrible person knowing I can’t always live up to those standards for which I prayed. Isn’t it beautiful how all of this can be applied to our walk with the Lord? Jesus is our bride groom and we as the church are the bride. And just how I pray for whoever I’ll marry, Jesus prays for us and intercedes for us to the Lord.

As a young man marries a maiden,
so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.
Isaiah 62:4-6

Sometimes I wonder if I should have spent more time praying for my own character, devoting myself to being the kind of woman that the Lord would delight in. Not that I think any of those prayers for my future husband were wasted. I just think that for as much as I prayed for him I should have also been working on my standards for myself, which is something I continually have to remind myself of. I want to be the kind of woman that can steal God’s heart.

“You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.”
Song of Songs 4:9

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Don not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”
Song of Songs 8:4

So rather than look towards the future and plan little details, I want to let God take charge. I want Him to be the future I rely on. I want His delight and His pleasure to be what I seek. I would love to just lay down my tendency to crave control and let him lead me. I want to thank Him for His unchanging character, His everlasting patience with me, His precious gentleness, and His unbelievable kindness. I want to dance with the Lord and sing songs that are as a sweet aroma. I want to captivate the heart of God and really work on holding myself to the standards I’ve set for others. I know nothing I do will ever make me worthy of His love, but I want to strive for that worth either way. Yeah, I really want to be a bride - the bride of Jesus!

Much has been made about Christian growth. How do we grow? What makes this process happen? Why do we see some people we know growing and not others? Often we can look to outside influences to find this growth. We can try to find pastors who can “feed” us. Or we may stumble from church to church to find one that makes us “feel” closer to God. We want God to do something big for us so that we can reach a higher level of spirituality. Often times, though, these things don’t happen. We can get discouraged because we think the pastor just isn’t good enough, the churches aren’t helpful enough, or that God just isn’t moving in our lives. But what if Christian growth isn’t something to be found? Or something that happens to us? What if this growth is something that we do? And what if it is right inside of us? The point is that growth starts with our effort. And it’s through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who lives in us that this is achieved. We have to strive to grow. But how can we do this? There are some very practical steps that we can take to get closer to God and thus grow.

To start with, we must pray. Earnestly. Daily. Jesus repeatedly said, “Ask anything in my name and it will be given to you.” We should ask God to reveal Himself to us in new ways and to conform us to the image of His Son. This may mean that we will be taken out of our comfort zone and even into the realm of suffering.

Secondly, we must read the Word. In it are the truths of salvation, the mysteries of God’s nature, and the clues of living the Holy life. We must research it to find out what it means to follow after Christ. The Spirit uses the word to convict us of sin and bring us into right communion with God.

Lastly, we must serve others. It’s by helping other people that we serve God. He has put many people in our path that need our help. The more that we sacrifice of ourselves for others, the more we become like Christ and less like our selfish selves. We don’t have to think that hard about ways to do it. It could be cutting a relative’s lawn, discipling a friend, or driving a neighbor to work.

In conclusion, Christian growth isn’t some mysterious thing out there that needs to happen to us. It starts with us being on our knees. It continues to establish itself by Biblical knowledge. And it culminates in our actions to help those in need. We cannot expect God to move closer to us unless we are willing to work to be closer to Him. The Spirit will give us the strength to strive and will be with us in the growth process. He lives within us. It starts here and now. All we have to do is try.

Good morning! I can say this now that it’s well on it’s way towards noon, and lunch is around the river bend. You know, I never found it easy to wake up on Monday mornings at 5:30am. It could be because of the late nights at Lighthouse or my frequently bought quad shot Americano. O how I love the taste but for some reason my love will never let me sleep. If I manage to squeeze some shut eye out of the darkness, Monday always comes to soon. Upon my waking moment I must act quickly; if not I will surly fall back into the abyss and really wake to the realization of unemployment. However, this post is not about my mornings or about my obsession with Starbucks. This is about my work.

My job is to sit with the dangerous and the elderly. This Monday I arrived at work with cotton for eye balls and a brain somewhere among the stars. My client, on the other hand, was a crazy old man that loved to give me kisses and hold my hand, at least until he noticed that I was male. Then he got all worked up! This Monday I was not in the mood and evidently nether was he because he was hollering up a storm, cursing at the top of his partially deflated lung and throwing things, trying to get out of bed and whatever he could do just to tick me off. It was working for a while, but I had this feeling of peace come over me. It said something to the beat of “Isn’t it great to be free”? Wow, I had to take a step back and try and comprehend it all. Free- free in Christ. I am free not to get mad. If he throws a punch, I don’t have to be upset. If he calls me a completely vulgar name, I don’t have to say anything or if I would like, I could say something nice to him. This freedom is like nothing found on earth. If someone cuts you off in traffic, it may be instinct to automatically speed up on their tail, but you don’t have to when you walk with Christ. The same thing goes for gossip. If someone talks some smack about you, love them, talk well about them. And if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.

Jesus made the point clear that He cares. In fact He takes care of the birds and beast- how much more does Jesus love us? I am completely assured that He will take care of me so that I don’t have to be enslaved again to anger or revenge. I have only regret for not knowing or maybe for not going to bed sooner. But with all love I hope you can learn from this and apply it to your own story. Thanks for reading.