No, this post is not about overcoming narcolepsy, but heavenly music. I get very passionate about good art, and I tend to say “You need to listen to/watch/read/see this… it changed my life!” In homage to my favorite music group, I decided to share why.
In 2007 I was laying in my little house on Fruitdale Street trying to go to sleep. I was tossing and turning, thinking too much like I tend to do- imagining future scenarios and all the things left unsaid and undone of the day. I grabbed my Ipod and scrolled through my music, of which several artists I didn’t know because my friend had shared some music with me. Sleeping at Last. Hmm. Seems fitting. Hopefully prophetic.
I put my headphones in and listened.
It was soothing, lovely. I began to drift off to sleep at last as they had promised when suddenly profound truth rung in my ears, waking me up.
We are made of love and all the beauty stemming from it. We are made of love, and every fracture caused by the lack of it. (Needle and Thread, Keep No Score)
Immediately, tears flooded my vision. But they were tears of joy. I soared through the rest of the album Keep No Score, completely raptured, no longer tired.
When heaven meets the earth, we will have no use for numbers to tell us who we are or what we’re worth. (Heaven Meets the Earth, Keep No Score)
We’ll say the one thing everyone should hear: You were meant for amazing things. (Umbrellas, Keep No Score)
When, a few months later, my friend invited me to see them live, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a beautiful experience. Nearly five years later, I still consider them my favorite artist. I always judge a song by the depth of the lyrics first. Every song I hear from Sleeping At Last seems to be the epitome of the revelations of beauty and truth I am beginning to see around me. The way they are written stands alone as poetry. That’s not even mentioning the incredible beauty and complexity of the music, something I cannot even begin to express because I am not a musician.
This past year Sleeping at Last embarked on a creative endeavor, “Yearbook,” to release an EP at the beginning of each month for an entire year. Three written, played and fully produced songs every month. The beginning of the month was always filled with exciting anticipation. And they always delivered, not one song was mediocre in sound like they just got busy and were just trying to fill space. I am always quoting Sleeping at Last lyrics on my blog, and telling people to listen to them, so I decided to share a collection of my favorites lyrics here, and what they have meant to me.
The World is ours if we would only let it be. (Hurry, Ghost)
On a bus crossing the desert in Western China in 2008, God spoke to me “I want to give you the world” in the middle of some intense broken-ness and questioning. When I got back to the U.S., I had these things spoken rolling around in my head mixed with all the things I thought to be true about myself. I was suffering jet-lag and went to watch the sunrise and cry. I had my Ipod on shuffle and that song came on and I immediately knew God was confirming, yes, all things are mine.
Say all the things that you really want to say, the truest of forms will show, finally you’ll find your soul. (Say, Ghosts)
I had the line to this song in my head when I decided to let go finally express how I really felt to someone. It was a turning point in my life because up until that point I had feared rejection so bad I always kept my mouth shut.
Love is tension and thrill that begs to be ours. (Tension and Thrill, Keep No Score)
This sparked my current belief that love as both tension and thrill, beauty and pain, and you must embrace both in order to see the whole thing in its fullness.
Wake up, wake up, I think that the world’s asleep. We are surrounded by color and light, and we don’t even know it…. death is the only thing that makes us alive, forcing focus on light that we have inside. (Volcanos, Keep No Score)
This speaks for itself. This is really the theme of countless poems, and this whole blog, really.
Put down your weapons and close your eyes, cause you and your enemies are innocent tonight. The war you’re fighting has already been won. (Dreamlife, Keep No Score)
When I heard this song, I was just leaving a movement where everything was focused on militant Christianity- we are in a moral war and we need to fight for the hearts of the youth of America. It never sat right with me, and towards the end I began to see the holes in the entire thing. God began to show me everything had been accomplished through Jesus, and the idea that the war has, indeed been won, was one of the most liberating in my life.
Religion is a breeding ground where the devil’s work is deeply found…. and fear ties knots and pulls them tight, and leaves us paralyzed But in the end such tired words will rest, the truth will re-route the narrow things they’ve said. The marionette strings will narrow and untie, and out of the ashes love will be realized. (Naive, Storyboards)
This song, for me, sums up what has been going on in the church and leaves me feeling hopeful that despite all the bondage and lies, truth and love will be realized.
If time is money, then I’ll spend it all for you. I will buy you flowers with the minutes we outgrew. I’ll turn hours into gardens planted just for us to take, I’ll be reckless, building castles in your name. Since we’ve grown, we’ve longed for concrete things, honestly nothing’s felt more sure than when you are next to me. So let’s cut down the red tape and gather up the pieces of our youth. Cause there’s nothing in the world we could fix without some scissors and glue. (Next to Me, October EP)
I love this whole song, really. In a world with lots of drama in relationships, it captures the child-like-ness of love, something I adore about my relationship with my boyfriend.
The next few songs speak for themselves. (As they all do, I just felt no need for commentary.)
When it’s all been said, and this empty dictionary is all that’s left, I’ll try to change the world in a single word. My hands are shaking ready or not, invisible ink is all I’ve got, so I’ll concentrate and pick from these barren trees… some call it reckless, some call it breathing. (Accidental Life, April EP)
The only birthright in this life is the breath that we take. (Birthright, March EP)
Life is a gorgeous broken gift, six billion pieces waiting to be fixed, love letters that were never signed, sent to where we live. The sweetest thing I’ve ever learned, is that I don’t have all the answers, just a little light to call my own. Though it pales in comparison to the overarching shadows, the speckled light can reignite the sun and swallow darkness whole. (Emphasis, November EP)
It was recently announced Sleeping at Last will have a song the soundtrack of the newest Twilight movie. While I can’t really stand those movies, I am excited for them (I keep saying them, but it’s really just one guy now, Ryan O’Neil) to have this kind of exposure. The world needs to hear music like this, even Twilight fans. 😉 Yes and Amen.
All this to say, our future is a blank page that we choose to pour ourselves into when God presses play. (All This To Say, Storyboards)
brookelouvier.com 
Love these guys. They’re even more amazing live.
Had the opportunity to see them once before I was familiar with their stuff and now I’m questioning why I didnt go!