Send Down Your Spirit

May 28

BEHIND THE LYRICS

Even for those who are non-believers, scripture has always offered great insight and wisdom for us to reflect on. When I pick music for mass, I try to be intentional with song selections by reflecting on the readings for that Sunday. I’m not always perfect at it, but when I was reading over the mass readings for Sunday, September 23, 2018, inspiration struck. I have the scripture and lyrics color coded, so you can see how everything relates.

BEHIND THE RECORDING

I had built the track, which was heavily inspired by CCM hits like This Is Amazing Grace and The Lion and the Lamb. I was thinking I would record this as a way to kick off a solo project, but when John Finch signed with NOVUM RECORDS to do Live For You and In Your Light, Mason and I pitched this to him in the studio. He learned it within minutes and knocked the vocals out of the park! Mason helped me complete the track, and the prolific Kris Redus laid down some amazing and energetic drums for it.

The second reading was James 3:16-4:3 -
Beloved: where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace. Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

I went on further to read James 4:6-10 -
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Verse 1
Though I wage war within
My broken heart cannot begin
To understand who You are
And how You love me

Chorus
Lord send down Your Spirit
Let me receive Your peace
Lord send down Your wisdom
Let my trust in You increase

Verse 2
Though I fail to believe
My wandering heart longs to see
And comprehend who You are
And know Your mercy

Bridge
Draw near to us
Come dwell in us
We invite You Jesus

ADDITIONAL NOTES

As a producer, I feel it an obligation to study what is happening in the industry, as well as who the key players are in the music realm. I have been following Seth Mosley (Grammy and Dove Award winning producer) for a while, and his company Full Circle Music has wonderful resources for musicians of all calibers. FCM actually has a service where you submit songs to be reviewed by one of their team members, so I submitted the first draft to them, and I got a reply from Seth himself! For 7 minutes, Seth walked through the strengths and weaknesses of the song, and I applied his critiques to make it way better than it had started out! I was flattered to hear him say at the end that it was one of the better songs he had worked with.

BEHIND THE ARTWORK

I enlisted Struble Studio to create the lyric video for the song. Once I got the video back, I took screenshots from various points and played around with different combinations of images and text. I sent as many as about 15-20 iterations back and forth to John, and we finally settled on this.

ARTIST THOUGHTS

Here is what John Finch thinks about the song, as heard from an interview with Catholic Community Radio the day it released.

CHECK OUT THE SONG

Send Down Your Spirit by John Finch is available on all digital platforms.

SONG CREDITS

WORDS & MUSIC BY WILL HICKL
PRODUCED BY WILL HICKL & MASON SHIRLEY
LEAD VOCALS - JOHN FINCH
ELECTRIC GUITAR/BASS - MASON SHIRLEY
SYNTH/PROGRAMMING/KEYS/HARMONIES - WILL HICKL
DRUMS - KRIS REDUS

ENGINEERED & MIXED BY MASON SHIRLEY
MASTERED BY DAVE MCNAIR

© 2019 NOVUM PUBLISHING | ℗ 2019 NOVUM RECORDS

CCLI SONG # 7130893

Will Hickl http://willhickl.com