A Conversation

[Andy:] hello.

[David:] yeah, is Andy there?

[Andy:] uh...this is he.

[David:] this is David Crowder calling for the interview that was scheduled today?

[Andy:] oh. Yeah. Great. Um sorry...I didn't expect you so soon.
Let me...give me a second to get things set up here.

[David:] no problem.

[Andy:] yeah. Made a few changes around here
and my typical setup is kinda, you know, technology's a killer right?

[David:] uh...well...we'll have to wait and see I guess.

[Andy:] well. Alright. Well. Umm. Well. Hey, let's get started.
Uh...sorry my notes are...you know a little scattered here...
uh...you'll have to forgive me.

[David:] mmhmm.

[Andy:] uhmm...I gotta admit I...I really don't know much about...
you know...you... You...or the band...
but I've got some friends that are big fans and um...

[David:] right.

[Andy:] but...uh...anyway...um...alright. Well. Ok. So here we go.
Um...so your new CD is titled a collision, or...um...3 + 4 = 7 that's..
that's interesting. You know the...the...

[David:] mmhmm.

[Andy:] ...whole double title thing.

[David:] yeah.

[Andy:] uhmm lets see...uh...and the atom on the cover that's pretty

[David:] uh huh.

[Andy:] cool. I was...I mean...I was never all that great in science and.
And math wasn't really my...my specialty...which is...which is I guess,
you know, why I'm a writer now. But uh...

[David:] mmhmm.

[Andy:] ...anyway um...

[David:] ok.

[Andy:] ok. So uh...it...I don't know...is that...it's like with the cover...
is that a metaphor or...uh...I mean is it metaphorical for something or like, or is it...

[David:] well...

[Andy:] ...just pretty or...

[David:] ...nah. Well I mean. Yeah.
The...uh...atom, it's not really...I mean it's a symbol.
You see that and you think atom.
It shows electrons moving in elliptical paths around a nucleus and all...we know...

[Andy:] mmhmm.

[David:] ...that's...that's not how an atom works. Or...or looks even, for that matter...

[Andy:] ok.

[David:] ...and so....and so that's why it was appropriate for the cover, you know...

[Andy:] right. Uhmm. Ok. Yeah. I'm not really sure I see the connection. But...

[David:] ...well...and what we mean to say is that the elements of worship are inadequate,
much like the atom depiction. But this is what we have you know?
It helps us carry the idea.

[Andy:] mmhmm. Mmhmm. Uhmm. Ok. Uh.
Tell...ok...what's the deal with these little songs between the real...you know, the real songs?
Like are they significant? Uhmm...is there like a theme of the album?
Or are they creating space? Like what's...going on there?

[David:] uhmm. I don't...

[Andy:] ok. Uhmm. So you know I hear there's this really spectacular ending to...
to the record is that true?

[David:] we'll have to wait and see on that.

[Andy:] swell.

[David:] it does swell.

[Andy:] wait...uh it...wait...hold on...it does well?

[David:] no. It swells.

[Andy:] oh. Right. It swells. Uhmm. Ok. Well.
And so the end starts with this...this piece called "the lark ascending."
Uhmm now what is...what is the lark?
Is that...is that also a metaphor for something?

[David:] uhmm. I gue...I mean I guess. I just...I don't think...
I don't think you should read too much into any of this you know
It's...I mean the lark ascending was written...
it was a piece written by Vaughn Williams who died in 1958,
and uh, the work opens with this calm set of sustained chords and then (coughs) sorry.
Excuse me. And uhmm.
Anyway and so then the violin enters as the lark and it...
it starts with this series of ascending and repeated intervals and this...
these nimble then elongated arpeggios. Uhmm.
And he actually found inspiration in a work by the English poet George Meredith
who died in 1909 and the composer included a portion of Meredith's poem on the flyleaf...

[Andy:] wait uh...

[David:] ...of the published work

[Andy:] ....hold on wait...

[David:] ...uhmm...

[Andy:] ...why do you keep mentioning...

[David:] ...and it...

[Andy:] ...the year they died?

[David:] ...well it went...and it went like this it says uh...

"He rises and begins to round,

He drops the silver chain of sound,

Of many links without a break,

In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.

For singing till his heaven fills,

'Tis love of earth that he instills,

And ever winging up and up,

Our valley is his golden cup

And he the wine which overflows

To lift us with him as he goes.

Till lost on his aerial rings

In light, and then the fancy sings."

[Andy:] huh. Wow. That's nice. But I mean...but who is the lark?

[David:] I don't know.

[Andy:] sorry. I think i've got the wrong page. Uhmm.
The script you gave me says something different. It says, "you are."

[David:] yeah but I don't...
I don't feel like the lark much of the time and uhmm there are other larks for me you know?

[Andy:] wait a second. Ok. So correct me if I'm wrong but uhmm...

[David:] yeah.

[Andy:] ...in the script I have you're...

[David:] right.

[Andy:] ...making a point that art does this...

[David:] right.

[Andy:] ...you know the whole, it rises on wing from earth to fill the heavens...

[David:] yes.

[Andy:] ...pulling the rest of us with it. That as the lark rises so do we."

[David:] right. I'm unsure.

[Andy:] but. Uh. Hold on. I mean...it...it says so right here.

[David:] yeah. Uhmm. But the ground pulls at my feet.

[Andy:] hold...hold on just a second. Uh but I mean what about the number 7?

[David:] did you ever notice that the sky is all the way to the ground?

[Andy:] wait. Hold on. What?

[David:] we're walking around in it. We're in the sky.
There is sky and there is ground and we're somewhere in between.
That is where we live.
And sometimes some of us take wing and when they do,
when their feet leave the ground, even for a second,
they pull the rest of us with them.
And when we rise, and when we rise,
and when we notice that the sky has been around us all along.
We have been walking into it. It has been this constant collision.
Divinity and depravity.
And we rise and we rise and we rise and we rise and we rise
and we rise and we rise and we rise and we rise and we rise
and we rise and we rise and we rise and we rise...