BC News|April 10, 2013 10:22 EDT
SHANE & SHANE RELEASES TENTH PROJECT, BRING YOUR NOTHING, MAY 14
Acoustic duo Shane & Shane releases its tenth career project, Bring Your Nothing, via Fair Trade Services on May 14. The project's lead single, "That's How You Forgive," will begin vying for adds at Christian radio Friday.
Recorded entirely at the Shanes own Wellhouse Studios in Cedar Hill, Texas, Bring Your Nothing was a community effort, featuring Jason Hoard (Third Day), Tyler Chester (Fiction Family), Josh Moore (Caedmon's Call) and Shane & Shane's drummer, Joey Parish. For seven days, the talented musicians shared meals, conversation and time together playing, singing and recording. The songs were tracked with all of them playing simultaneously in one room.
Shane Everett comments on the experience, "We had guys who were amazing players and great friends, and we just put it in the red and went for it. This is how people should make records. It was the most fun we've had. It was a blast!"
Shane & Shane assumed all of the production responsibilities to create an album that boasts musical diversity but also a cohesiveness stemming from the unique recording process. Lyrically, the songs onBring Your Nothing were born out of Shane & Shane's weekly songwriting class where they teach students songwriting principles and theology.
Primary songwriter Shane Barnard explains, "Songwriting has been a special thing, because it's not just about me. When I'm writing songs, instead of thinking of myself, I'm thinking of John, Heather, Jacob ... I'm thinking of these students, [thinking] 'Lord, what do you want to say to my students? I want them to know You, and I want them to see You in a way that makes a platform and a song stupid. You crush those things. Those things pale in comparison to You."
A theme of grace weaves its way through the track listing. "The One You'll Find" finds a simple lyrical home set to a Mumford-esque melody. The sparse "You Loved My Heart to Death" paints a realistic portrayal of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. "Without Jesus," taken from 1 Corinthians 13, reminds listeners the best things in life mean nothing if Christ is not in them. Debut radio single "That's How You Forgive" defines grace in a straightforward but powerful way.
But it's the album's title track that speaks most poignantly to God's grace. "What sets us apart as believers, what sets our message apart, is that you don't bring your 'fill-in-the-blank' to make God happy," Barnard says. "You bring what you have, and what you have is nothing. That's all He requires of us."