I first became aware of the texts for these hymns when Bruce Benedict walked into our studio this past summer (2023) with a compilation of Easter Hymns from 1879 called "Resurgit." In it are over 100 Resurrection texts - written from the early years of the church through the late 1800s. We had never heard of most of these texts so thought they could make a great starting point for some new music. Bruce sent out an "all call" to artists associated with Cardiphonia for original Resurrection songs and I decided to begin work on a setting of "Christ is Risen! Alleluia!" I knew the fall was going to be busy with a lot of work travel and thought our Bellwether Arts "go-to" style - full band Americana Folk might not be feasible. I've loved the electronica band Sylvan Esso for years and have also been listening to Flock of Dimes latest records on repeat all Spring. I'd never attempted synth-heavy/dance-electric music-making before but thought I could give it a try. If nothing else, I'd learn a lot about programming.

I'd been helping lead worship at Pillar Church with one of our interns, Emily Hanrahan, over the last couple of years and I knew that her voice and musical instincts could potentially work for this. I came up with a demo on acoustic guitar and voice and shared it with Emily. She loved the idea and was encouraging so I set out programming synths and drums and translating an acoustic guitar tune to full electronica-synth pop (I'm not sure if that's a genre, but it's how I think of it). We headed into the studio when I had the tracks in enough shape for vocals, and Emily came in and nailed it. Her performances, ideas, and interpretation were spot on. After sharing that first tune with other Bellwether friends, we decided to keep going and the result is this short EP.

Blake Johnson listened to the mixes and created the beautiful artwork included in this release We hope you enjoy!

- Andy Bast, March 2024