An incredible piece of music

I'm sitting on the BMI flight from Cairo to London trying not to let the guy watching his screen in the seat next to me notice the tears that are creeping down my cheeks as I loose myself over and over again in a song. "Fly" by the Michael Gungor Band from the recording "Ancient Skies" just might be the best track I have heard for months. It is an exquisite song, full of soul, tenderness and compassion with a message of hope and encouragement;
 
"All this doubt, trying to work it out;
Could you lay it down for now?
It's good to think, but it's good to drink
 From this living stream, so why...
 
Why don't you fly,
Free your mind to all this splendour? Why don't you fly to the arms that save?
 
You can come while your heart feels numb -
You can just lay down and rest.
Lift your eyes to the open skies,
We could come alive and fly!"
 
Michael's lead vocal sets the perfect tone of caring vulnerability, complemented by some serene harmonies, particularly in the second verse where you feel the arrangement lifting off the ground into an exuberant instrumental section that feels like it's just dancing in the air, showcasing some fabulous virtuoso instrumental work including one of the best acoustic guitar solos I can remember.
 
The coda is a huge operatic rock masterpiece influenced by Muse and TSO and just when you think the music can't get any bigger or more intense it ascends even higher only to break down into a beautifully fragile piano motif that reprises the opening themes of God's tender love, reaching out in desperate longing to connect with us.
 
Drying my cheeks on an airline napkin, I feel overwhelmed again by God's incredible loving heart, expressed through the voice of an artist longing for his friend to join him in the fulness of life that he lives in, and wishing that I also could experience those transcendent God moments more regularly.

Posted via email from Jafferblog