For the special little group of people I met on Instagram (they know who they are)

This EP is a companion piece and sequel to “A Sort of Homecoming.” and part of the “Entropy” project, which is comprised of Still Image Film, Temporary Art and the twin EPs. You can watch the film, “Entropy” here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCHzkhCPT2r-TNVXLQ621scA/videos

Brian Eno is one of my biggest influences, and I’d become fascinated by the concept of Generative Music. I just wanted to compose a really long ambient piece, so here it is, presented over five movements. The opening track, “IX (Redux)” serves as a kind of “bridge” between the two EPs, featuring echoes of “IX”, the closing track from the first EP, and towards the end of piece, the listener is introduced to the haunting drone that runs through each of the movements on this record as a kind of thread or motif.

One track I was really inspired by is Eno’s “From The Same Hill” where he plays a beautiful acoustic guitar part over a bed of ambient sound. I also loved how John Frusciante did something along those lines on “To Record Only Water For Ten Days”, combining Guitar with Electronica. I tried something similar here with “X”. While I’m definitely not saying I’m the next Eno or Frusciante, I’m really happy with the result, and it reminds me of something I did on my very first twin EP release, “My Splendour Has Become My Ruin”/“My Ruin Has Become My Splendour” so I think this makes a fitting close to what is my final project as WindHymn.

The concept of both “A Sort of Homecoming” records fits into a larger project I’ve titled “Entropy”, which considers life, mortality, decay and death, which of course is universal to the entire human race, regardless of socio-economic status, ethnicity, or education level. It’s the only certainty in life, yet it’s something most people push to the back of their minds. The Covid-19 pandemic has surely shoved our mortality in our faces, and perhaps reminded us that we are incredibly fragile creatures, not the immortal demigods we imagine ourselves to be. We are finite, and we answer to a Creator Who is Infinite.

My own realisation of this began when my cousin (who was more like the brother I never had) became sick with Cancer. He was twelve months younger than me, and at the time we were both in our early twenties. After battling it for a few years, he eventually passed away. When you’re in your teens and twenties, unless you’ve lost someone extremely close to you, you usually don’t give your own mortality a passing thought; sure, you might know of older people who die, or you lose your Grandparents, but in a way, it’s kind of abstract, I mean, you’re young, healthy, you’re indestructible (you think).

Before my cousin became sick, we were both into the regular stuff young guys do, and we both loved dance music. He’d always say that a track he liked was “Bangin’!” We did have slightly different tastes though, and I remember him giving me a James Lavelle cassette from the Cream Live series, because it wasn’t really his thing, he felt I’d enjoy it more, as it was the kind of music I really loved.

When I was going back through my earlier influences, as I mention in the notes to “A Sort of Homecoming”, I found that James Lavelle mix on Soundcloud, and listening to it instantly reminded me of my cousin handing me that cassette. I used to play it in my car all the time, and as I listened to it all these years later, I turned to my Wife and asked her “Do you remember me playing this all the time?!” And she was like, “Yeeeees.” and rolled her eyes.

Some years before he died, my cousin came to faith in Jesus, and it hit me that this guy who, let’s just say was “a bit of a lad” instantly changed. This made me sit up and take notice, although it didn’t stop me going out and doing what I wanted to do. I had some kind of a belief in God, especially when I needed to pray about something I was worried about, but I didn’t want God there telling me what to do; I wanted to do my own thing, with zero accountability, but have Him there when I wanted Him.

When my cousin died, I really came to see that if this could happen to him, it could happen to me, and I needed to make peace with my Creator.

The funny thing was, as I later found out, my Creator was the One Who took the initiative and did everything to make peace with Him possible, and it took place on a hillside one Friday afternoon in a little place called Judea...

There’s a lot more I could say, but it’s best to keep it simple:

Without meaning to be harsh, you and I are absolutely going to die one day. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be sensible to at least consider what happens after that?

The thing is, and you don’t need me to tell you this, death is inevitable. But it’s not natural. Death is a result of something that happened a long time ago. Not in “a galaxy far, far away”, but right here. And as a result of one man’s wrong choice, we now live in a fallen world that while it is a beautiful place, it’s marred, and we now experience sorrow, sickness and death as a “normal” part of our lives here. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. But death is not the end.

By telling you a little bit about myself, and also in the concept behind “My Splendour Has Become My Ruin”/“My Ruin Has Become My Splendour” (which you can read about in the notes to “To The Place Where The Streams Flow (Redux)”) I’ve shared something that is subjective. Many people could say similar things about their religion or philosophy, so why am I so passionate to tell you about Christ? Am I some kind of bigot or religious fanatic?

Time for a brief excursus.

Christianity is unique among the religions of the world for several reasons; the Bible is the only “Holy Book” that contains predictive prophecy, and not only that, it’s not the vague kind of thing found in the writings of Nostradamus, that can be interpreted a thousand different ways, no, these prophecies are very specific, and they can be tested in history to see if they came to pass. There are hundreds of such prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Himself.

Not only that, Christianity is a truth claim; it makes itself vulnerable in that it is rooted in history. There are dates, names, places that can be checked out; God invites us to investigate. For example, if you can produce the body of Jesus, proving that He didn’t in fact rise from the dead, the whole thing falls to pieces. Problem is many have tried over the years. That tomb is still empty, just as He said it would be. His claim to be God Incarnate still stands, so perhaps we would be wise to at least find out more about Him and what He did?

Another unique thing is that religions teach that humanity can work its way to God by our own efforts. The problem with that is it doesn’t take into account the holiness of God, or our own unholiness. If you’re going to invent a religion, of course you’d make it attainable. But the Bible teaches about a God Who is completely and utterly perfect, and the standard He expects from His creatures is utter perfection.

Oh dear.

If we left it there, we’d be completely and utterly screwed.

But that’s where the Gospel comes in. “Gospel” just means “Good News” So what is this “Good News?”

That the righteousness that God demands is the righteousness He gives us as a free gift through the perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ. So while we are currently suffering the consequences of one man’s act of rebellion against his Creator, this other Man has lived the life that we can’t, and all we need to do is put our trust in Him and what He has done, and we can experience a reversal of this curse, and enter into eternal life. No more “Entropy” and no more death.

I’ve written enough. But all I ask you to do, as I did with “The Heavens Declare...” is to stop and think about this.

Please don’t take my word for anything, but don’t take anyone else’s either. God gave you a brain, so use it! Go do some research; start with the New Testament; maybe the Gospel of John. Read about this Jesus for yourself, God is big, and He can take your challenges. Just be intellectually honest and go with the evidence, because it’s there if you’re willing to spend some time and thought.

With both WindHymn and An Arresting Strangeness, I’ve created exactly the music I wanted to, and I’ve been incredibly blessed to have done it my way, without any compromise. I’ve tried to embrace some big, challenging themes along the way, not only in this latest project, but from the start; “My Splendour Has Become My Ruin”/“My Ruin Has Become My Splendour” were autobiographical in that that deal with my own journey to faith in Christ. “The Heavens Declare...” was designed to challenge people to consider that although we’re brainwashed with the dogma of Atheistic Evolution (and make no mistake, it is definitely a religion, even though it claims otherwise), when one truly looks at the overwhelming evidence of the world around us, we know that there is a God, Who has not only revealed Himself through “General Revelation” (that is nature, or the created order) and more specifically through “Special Revelation” (or, the Bible).

I’ve also spoken openly about my faith in Jesus Christ, which, let’s face it, these days is tantamount to committing “career suicide.”

As always, thank you so much for listening, and for reading this, I really appreciate you.

Farewell,

WindHymn