“Sarah’s voice lures you into thinking bits of heaven might be here already.” – David Crowder

From the first moments of Sarah Macintosh’s new album Current, you know that you are hearing something that stands apart. Yes, her music nestles in comfortably within our acceptable parameters of pop music. The vessel is correct. But the contents are of a completely different color.

From the opening track you are listening to that drop of color make its way into every space within the glass. The bouncy and unexpected harp that opens the album’s title track gives way to strings, a chorus of drums, and a huge melody.

It doesn’t stop with the banging opening number, though. The entire album is punctuated by chamber-pop elements and instrumentation. The standard sounds you would expect in a pop song clash with small and intimate details, giving the sonic landscape a sense of familiarity but with a lushness and texture that rings new to the ears of those of us who are so accustomed to the conventional output of the record labels these days.

And while these elements draw you in, it’s the voice that keeps you listening. Sarah’s voice is wonderful, true, but it’s her turn of melody, of taking that one thing you rely on as a listener, and flipping it on its head before righting it again (before you’ve even realized it!) that makes listening to Current such a breathtaking and engrossing experience.

I had the great opportunity to interview Sarah about “Current,” the title track of her 2012 album.

Please tell me the story behind the song “Current.”

I’m a runner. I do a lot of thinking when I’m out running and that’s something I really enjoy doing. A lot of times I’ll get thoughts about my life that are reflective. I see things in my life while I’m running that correlate with my spiritual life. Just like Paul did, when he talked about endurance and running the race in the Bible. One of the things I was thinking about one day--having run a marathon and several half marathons--was about roots. We’re from San Diego, but my whole family is originally from Fort Worth, Texas. So when I decided to run my marathon, I knew I needed to run it in Texas. I knew I would be desperate for the support of my family when I got to the later miles of that 26-mile race. I knew that my family could be that support I needed during the race. Sure enough, my family showed up so that they could be there in those moments for me, cheering with signs, chanting my name. I thought it was so awesome that they showed up and gave me support for something that was so difficult.

In thinking about that, I was thinking about marriage. It is one of the most important things in a Christian’s life, and it needs the most support. If you are a person that’s going to get married, I think it is the thing that is attacked the most. It is the hardest thing, and there are so many things about marriage that influence your daily walk with the Lord. I was imagining how marriage is like running that marathon and instead of people holding up signs saying you can do it, they’re holding up signs saying it’s not worth it, you deserve a break--anything but keep trying.

I think it wears on people running the race of marriage. It wears on us to keep being told you don’t have to. It’s hard enough when people say come on you can do it. I was thinking about that and who is our most important cheerleader who gives the most affirmation and that is God. He is the pinnacle and greatest example of Love. In singing this song, I’m singing to my Savior, “hold us together,” because this life is like a current that wants to tear us apart. I’ve been married 13 years now and I’m praying for God to hold that bond and help strengthen us together even as life swirls around us wanting to tear us apart.

Please tell me about any Bible verses that you used to write the song.

Psalm 4:8: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.”

How can listeners apply that message in their walks as Christians when they listen to the song?

The other day my husband and I sat looking at a large tree near our house and began to talk about how awesome--not “awesome dude,” surfer awesome, but inspiring awe, awesome--it is that a tree can grow so huge. That something can start so small and weather such great adversity such as frost, birds, lawnmowers, invading bugs, drought, wind, etc. and still make it. It also blows my mind that a tree can retreat. It can fall back and withdraw every year, dropping its leaves, looking more dead than alive, and still bring forth new growth and life in the spring.

It is at rest. Just as we don’t need to rise in the middle of the night and eat a large meal to survive because we are at rest, so the tree can survive by being still. Then the spring comes and growth surges to the tips of each branch and root. Grow, Grow, Grow, Life.

Rest can be found in one day--one day of setting aside your phone and computer and TV and email and errands and laundry and Facebook and driving in traffic and just allowing yourself to be still, be inactive, be quiet. Maybe the thought of letting those things go for even a moment has made you tense. Maybe the better question is why you can not let go, drop your leaves and rest? When you dig down to the root of why you can’t relax and rest is it because you are afraid to let go?

The reason I titled the album “Current” stems from this song and in the other songs I’m talking about life and how I’ve learned more about the Lord through living with Him as my Savior. When you go to the beach and you go in the water of the ocean, there are currents that will pull you down the beach and before you know it you’ll be a block away from where you entered. The current may be subtle and when you walk back on the beach, you need to gather yourself because you know you’ve moved and you need to figure out where you are.

When people listen to my album, I want them to spiritually enter the album on “Current” and exit the album on the last track, “Joy Comes In,” and not realize that they’ve shifted spiritually. Hopefully the Lord has moved them from one point to another and that listeners learn things about the Lord that changes and moves them. Hopefully the album will swirl around them like a current.

Lyrics:
Set us free, take us away
Face of love, tear us away
Cause we are Yours to carry away We're carried away
We're carried away

Life is a current
Pulling us out to the sea where we can't see
And danger waits for us
Preying on those who hold closely and tightly
Love, say that you won't let go

Let's take heed and go far away
Heart of love, tear us away
Cause we are Yours to carry away We're carried away
We're carried away

Love, say that it will be so
Love, say that you won't let go
Don't let go,
Don't let me go

Matthew Henry’s commentary: “In singing Ps. 4:6-8, and praying over them, let us, with a holy contempt of the wealth and pleasure of this world, as insufficient to make us happy, earnestly seek the favor of God and pleasingly solace ourselves in that favor; and, with a holy indifference about the issue of all our worldly concerns, let us commit ourselves and all our affairs to the guidance and custody of the divine Providence, and be satisfied that all shall be made to work for good to us if we keep ourselves in the love of God.”

I can totally relate to the message of this song. My wife Jennifer and I have been married for 17 years and we have three young daughters. Sarah is so right, and this song really resonates with me musically and lyrically, and Sarah’s vocal style is completely captivating. Most of all, the message of this song draws me in, especially in the bridge: “Love, say that it will be so, Love, say that you won't let go, Don't let go, Don't let me go.”

I feel the same way as Sarah; that our walks with God are also under attack by the world. Our attempts to have Christian marriages are being torn at from every side, and we need to pray daily to God, “Face of love, tear us away, Cause we are Yours to carry away.”

There are currents metaphorically physically and emotionally all around us. The question is which currents you allow to take you. There is only One current we should all submit to as believers, and that’s God. That’s so lacking in our society. As Sarah described people she knows in their mid-30s having been married multiple times, it is becoming an epidemic in our society. We need to make commitments and keep them. Sarah also talked about how a tree has roots and it stands firm and grows. That’s what this great title track challenges me to think about, and helps me pray like David in Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.” Amen to that!