Marveling at the Music: The Paper Kites

It's one of life's simple but profound joys to "discover" an artist, be it an author, designer, or band. By "discovering," I mean that you sort of "happen" upon an unexpected gem, rather than checking it out based on word of mouth (etc.). (This was how I came across one of my favorite reads of 2013, Recalled by Cambria Hebert - just seeing it as a "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" pick for only $.99.) I think I came across this Australian band through an Amazon.com MP3 email or through browsing the site. This lovely album cover stood out to me:

And the samples sold me, to the point where I bought two of the songs from the EP (extended play). I've listened to the samples over and over again, relishing in the sweetness and variety of sounds. So finally, I ended up buying Young North (another EP), and the other day I completed this EP (Woodland) and purchased a song from their full debut album, States.

I'm not exactly sure how to classify The Paper Kites' music. I'm not sure they even want to label themselves, as their Facebook simply notes in the bio section, "Hello, we're The Paper Kites, we play songs." Well, it doesn't get much simpler and unclassifiable than that. ;) But Amazon goes with Folk and Singer-Songwriter, and I'm cool with that genre association.

Their music is just...smooth. Ethereal. It creates its own atmosphere, one that's contemplative and nostalgic and tender. Take a listen:



I currently have "Bloom" on my Morning Glory soundtrack page, as I just love the sound and theme for the hopeful thread of my WIP.

Here are two other songs I really enjoy ("Featherstone" and "St. Clarity"):





Let's Talk!

1. Have you heard of The Paper Kites? What do you think of this type of music?


2. What are your thoughts on music videos? To be honest, as much as I love dissecting themes in stories and poems, music videos often seem to stretch beyond any connections I ever would make... The last two above, especially, are not exactly what I picture when I hear the lyrics. ;) Even still, the music videos are like an art form in their own right, and as a separate creation, I'm rather enchanted.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

I was introduced to Owl City my first year of college, when the song "Fireflies" was really popular and playing on the radio all the time. I fell in love with his music - the upbeat rhythms, the unique and creative lyrics, and the overall emotion and excitement of the songs.

I finally bought the latest album All Things Bright and Beautiful the other day, and even though it's a bit different than Ocean Eyes and some of his other music (as others have noted), I'm starting to get into it. However, I discovered that there's one song on the iTunes album that's not present on the Amazon MP3 album I bought - and when I heard it on YouTube, I decided I just had to buy the song from iTunes! It's called "How I Became the Sea":



Beautiful, no? And then there's this short track before the song "Galaxies":



You might recognize these words and the quoted poem from a devotional piece by Larkin Spivey that I shared several months ago. That poem is deeply moving!

Lastly, if you, too, are a fan of Owl City, have you ever heard of Sky Sailing? According to iTunes, Sky Sailing was Adam Young's project prior to Owl City. I bought that CD, An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, this past summer, and I love it!! It's quite possible that I like it better than Young's other CDs overall, mostly because of the mood and flow of the songs. Want to hear a sample?



*Sigh* Lots of great music to listen to whenever! I'm so grateful that of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" that God made, He also gave us music. What a blessing!!

(Note: Videos were found on YouTube.)

Campfire: Fourth Evening

How is everyone this evening? It's a bit breezy tonight, so I hope you all have something warm on! I think I have some more smore fixings, so go ahead and help yourself!

Well, our week together is coming to a close. We have one more full day of camp, and then we will say our "farewells" on Saturday. I hope you have had a great time at camp--I know I have! Thanks to all of your sweet, fun comments, I've made some great memories. Maybe we'll have to make Camp Humility an annual event . . .

Tonight I thought we could sing together. Here's the first verse of the hymn "We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer":

"We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator,
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee,
We bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing."

(From Hymns for the Family of God, Paragon Associates, Inc., 1976.)

Psalm 40: 3 says, "And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

Our God is so good! Because of His grace through Jesus, we can go to Heaven to be with Him forever. Forever. How amazing, how marvelous, how glorious is our God! And He is more than deserving of our worship and songs of praise.

First Kings 8:22-23 says, "And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart."

There is no God like our wondrous God! Remember Psalm 43:3 from a few nights ago? "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." Now read the following verse (verse 4): "Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God."

He is our joy! He is our reason for living, and our hope for everlasting life. So let us praise Him, not just now, but every day. Our words can never be enough to show our true appreciation, but He looks at our hearts. Let us worship Him in love with all of our hearts, not just with our voices, but with our lives. Let us seek His will, for His purposes are what really count throughout eternity.

With that, here is the third verse of the hymn I shared above:

"With voices united our praises we offer,
And gladly our songs of true worship we raise.
Thy strong arm will guide us, our God is beside us,
To Thee, our great Redeemer, forever be praise."

Songs About Food

Who wouldn't want to sing about food? We sing about all of the things we love, like people, places, and memories. So it's only natural to add to that list something as delicious (or not so) as food, which helps us survive. There's plenty of different types of food to choose from, so I'm sure there are quite a few songs about food out there. Here's a video I found on YouTube with a food song I like from Owl City:



I was introduced to Owl City this year at college, and I'm really liking this artist's music. Hope you enjoy the song--it's kind of a different type of music, so it may not be for everyone. But I really like it, so I hope you do, too!

Well, how about you? Do you have any fun songs about food (or songs that at least mention food) that you would like to share with us?