in the recording studio

Damien Hirst's café, Ilfracombe

Welcome to this newsletter - especiallythose of you for whom this will be thefirst you have received.

It’s been an exciting few months especially asthe new album Something for the Soul anda new book Occupied Territories have bothcome out. We hadn’t anticipated they wouldarrive at the same time but it is serendipitous asin many ways Something for the Soul is thesoundtrack of Occupied Territories.

The subtitle for Occupied Territories is The revolution of love from Bethlehem tothe ends of the earth, and that revolution is reflected strongly in Something for theSoul.

In the next newsletter I will tell you more about the book but for this one I want to fillyou in on the album.

Damien Hirst's cafeThe title track for the album was written inDamien Hirst’s café in Ilfracombe! My sonBen and his family live down that way and wehad popped in to get a coffee when for somereason the words to 'Something for the Soul'began to pop into my head. The familystarted leaving and ignored my cries for anapkin on which to write the words -however the kindly group at the next tablepassed me one - probably to quieten me - and

I thanked them and explained it was so I could write down some song lyrics - theylooked a little puzzled!

I don’t know why the song occurred there, but the lyrics of 'Something for the Soul'echo a prayer that I wrote in a book of prayers called Holy Dreams to Feed the Soul.

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(See below)

I found I was writing an up-tempo rock song - I wanted it to be joyful and hopefulwhile in the verses recognising the things we struggle with in our world. I wanted it tobe halfway between a gospel song and a rock and roll song, exuberant and positive,but realising there are many issues in our world at the moment that - if we are to feedour souls - we need to challenge or change. I am enjoying starting off the concert withthis song each evening, it’s a very hopeful beginning and it’s a “whole lot of gospel anda little bit of rock and roll”.

Chapel by the Sea

The album opens and closes witha Prelude and a Postlude whichwere written in Lonier Chapel inRio de Janeiro during the StreetChild World Cup - the Prelude isa welcome to a quiet liturgy forthe early morning and thePostlude was a song to go outsinging. I think they bracket thealbum well. The theme of church is broughtout even more strongly in the

song 'Chapel by the Sea' - this is another one I really enjoy singing in concert. It’sabout finding a sacred space for those moments of quiet or prayer, especially at keymoments of our lives when we want to give thanks or when we have something ofpain or difficulty on our minds.

The theme of feeding the soul runs through the album and there aresongs that are prayers such as 'You’ll Lead Me Home', but I’ll talk moreabout the stories behind other songs in another newsletter. I think andhope the album is a vision of what the community of love should be andthat it genuinely does provide ‘Something for the Soul’.

Here to end the newsletter is the prayer/meditation I mentioned above - written a fewyears back but pointing to the same theme.

‘A little to feed the soul’ (thoughts from Santa’s ghetto)

Each year in the run-up to Christmas a group of artists - Including graffiti artists – open a store of creative, subversive, Humorous, irreverent, reverent, rude and prophetic art – It is called Santa’s Ghetto.

This year it was in Oxford Street in London. In the window was a picture by Peter Kennard Showing Tony Blair taking a photo of himself on his mobile phone Smiling and putting himself in situ with an exploding Iraq behind him. This picture was having a huge impact on the street As tourists stopped to photograph it themselves. Inside towards the back I found a little piece by Lucy McLauchlin It said, ‘In our world today we have plenty to stimulate all of our senses Yet little to feed the soul.’ And suddenly all the noise of Oxford Street disappeared A simple truth cut through In the busyness of all the multiple stimuli The most liberating moment can be the moment of quiet The moment when we realize the beauty of human values When we discover the silence we call God The moment where in the stillness our imagination is liberated In the silence encounter begins In the silence there is a still small voice We meet ourselves and we meet God But unless we pause we can find our soul remains unfed.

‘A little to feed the soul’ from Holy Dreams to Feed the Soul page 51

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Order Garth's new album Something for the Soul, and book OccupiedTerritories, the Revolution of Love from Bethlehem to the Ends of the

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