Rarely has a new band delivered an album with more emotional punch than Tenth Avenue North’s 2008 debut, Over and Underneath. Musically inventive and lyrically compelling, the collection helped earn the band the New Artist of the Year accolade at the 2009 Dove Awards and placed them in headliner status on its fall tour. Needless to say its 2010 follow up album was one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year.

With one listen to The Light Meets The Dark, it is obvious Mike Donehey, Jeff Owen and Jason Jamison are taking a bold step forward on their musical journey. Once again the songs are poignant and powerful, and in recording the new tunes, the band brings a more seasoned level of musicianship and intensity, honed from relentless touring.

In recording the new album, the band definitely felt more comfortable in the studio; a confidence earned from spending so much time on the road the last two years. Not only did that time serve to put further polish on its musical skills, but also helped them forge a bond with its audience.

“It’s been kind of crazy I guess when you think about it,” Donehey says with a smile. “In a lot of ways, we don’t feel like anything has changed. When we get up on a stage, more people are there to see us play and more people are familiar with the songs, but the objective really hasn’t changed. The objective is for people to encounter truth and be changed.”

NRT's Bill Lurwick spoke with lead singer Mike Donehey on the eve of their sophomore release date to get a quick update on the process of recording the new album and the story behind the first two singles.

Hey, Mike. Thanks for joining us here at NewReleaseTuesday.com. So, you guys had tremendous success with your debut, Over and Underneath. A lot of times, bands decide to either go in a completely different direction on their sophomore project or do too much of the same thing. But when I listened to The Light Meets The Dark, I was like, “Wow, refreshing!” So, kudos to you and the production crew.

Oh, man. Thank you so much. We did use the same production team for this record as on our debut, but we went about the process totally differently.

I know you had Jason and Rusty produce but who was the third producer?

Phillip Larue.

And how did you go about this record differently than your debut?


Well, the last record we recorded all the drums at once, and then all the bass. We had written all the songs and then recorded them. But for this record, when we wrote, we wrote a lot of the songs’ music first; a lot more than the last record. We also recorded each song completely one at a time. So, musically, we really tried to give each song its own unique feel.

Did you record while on the road or did you find studio time to make it happen?

Actually, last May we just took the whole month off to record and everyday from nine to five we went in and worked on it.

Let’s talk about The Light Meets The Dark. The first single that’s already huge at radio is "Healing Begins." Where does healing begin?

The last record was called Over and Underneath and the idea of that was just a call to believe the Gospel. Meaning, that at the height of our purity, Christ has gone higher, loves over us and there’s no one that doesn’t need Him. We’re all so bad that Jesus had to die for us and that humbles us, but at the same time we’re so loved that He was glad to die for us and He actually went lower than the lowest. He went higher than the highest and lower than the lowest bearing our sins on the cross, so that gives us great hope in our fears of whether or not we can be loved.

The Gospel helps us to not snivel around like, “Oh, I’m so screwed up”. It also keeps us from walking around swaggering like we're the best thing ever. Instead of thinking highly or lowly of ourselves, instead we just think of ourselves less. That’s the goal for what happens, and we’re hoping the The Light Meets The Dark is the next step.

We want people to actually believe the Gospel, to the point to where their able to admit how screwed up they are. I think James 5 and "Healing Begins" is written out of this passage, “Confess your sins one to another and pray for each other that you might be healed.” There’s a healing that takes place when you confess to other people, because you don’t have to be your own savior anymore.

Guess what? They found out your screwed up as your worst fears, because you’re far more screwed up than you ever thought possible. The good news is that you’re far more loved than you ever dared to dream.

That’s the key, isn’t it?

Right. And that’s where the healing can begin. Own up to how screwed up you are and place your confidence in how loved you are, in spite of yourself.

Salvation is definitely a theme that runs throughout the album. That’s what the song "You are More" is about, right?

Yeah. We actually played "You Are More" randomly at a festival last summer. A girl, just a couple of weeks before The Light Meets The Dark came out, emailed us on Facebook and said, “I only heard this song once at the show you played, but the chorus went like this...” and she wrote the chorus and the bridge word for word. She wanted to know whose song it was because it ministered to her so much. I was crying and I’m like, “holy moly.” I just realized that when we play that song, it says you’re more than the choices that you’ve made. You’re more than the mistakes. You’re more than the problems you create. I realized that there are a lot of people that have never been told that before.

They’ve been going to church their whole lives, but what they’ve just been given are more burdens of, “Hey, you’d better make good choices because if you make bad choices, bad things are going to happen to you, because the choices you make, make you who you are.” This song is just saying that yes, our choices have consequences, but the Gospel says that where we end up is not who we are. We’re not struggling to be free if we’re in Christ. We’re a new creation. We’re free to struggle.


So, how hard has it been to sit on all these songs for almost a year?

Oh, dude. It’s been painful, are you kidding me? We've been itching to play some new songs. Especially because some of the messages in these new songs. We’re really excited to communicate them.

Well, we're excited about the new album and we congratulate you and the guys on your continued success and determination to preach the gospel through your songs. Thanks for what you guys are doing.

Thank you Bill!