Gravity and Faith
2008
Anne Harris’ Gravity and Faith is a journey.
"I envisioned this collection of songs really bringing the listener on a personal journey… sonically, lyrically and energetically…into some of the places my head has been over the past few years,” says Anne.
Clearly, she’s been observing the world around her…in all its beauty,
illusion and hypocrisy…and seeking to understand how she relates to it all.
The world is a reflection of inner consciousness, but it’s a mosaic
image…and not always a pretty one…so we often don’t recognize ourselves in
the mirror. It takes looking within to find and piece together all the
disparate fragments of our reflections and illuminate our true relationship
to the whole. It’s a discovery that opens the door to transformation on all
levels and this seems to be the journey that Harris’ wants us to
contemplate.
At times the music is achingly lovely; at other times quite unexpected. It
is her strongest, most compelling work to date. Her voice exudes a revealing
honesty, clarity and deep-rooted strength, while her fiddle playing and
string arrangements have never been more emotionally engaging. Harris'
myriad musical influences continue to color her work, but she has avoided
blending them together into a homogenized hue. Gravity and Faith
finds her making choices both bold and refined, splashing colors across her
sonic canvas that ask listeners to open their imaginations, inviting them to
see what might come next. Broad stokes here, intricate detail there, the
textures are thick and cinematic. There is an uncanny ease with which a rock
song illuminates a traditional-sounding Irish tune which perfectly
complements a power-pop anthem. Concertlivewire.com says, "The disc
boasts a carefully crafted blend of violin-infused pop/rock arrangements,
the occasional folk flavoring and introspective lyricism that find [Harris]
digging down deep into the most transparent portions of her provocative
soul."
To help realize her vision Anne teamed up with veteran producer and
multi-instrumentalist, Brando, whose Soundcake studio is a relative newcomer
on the Chicago indie scene. A commercial ex-pat, his expansive artistic
vision and technical mastery made him the obvious choice for Harris.
"I've known Brando for quite a while and we’ve crossed musical paths many times. I have a great admiration for his work,” says Anne. “He has that rare ability to really channel the essence of a song and create a magical sonic space where it can breathe and blossom. When I heard he was building a new studio, I couldn't wait to work with him. He really understands who I am as an artist and where I wanted to go with this record. It was the most freeing and explosively creative experience I've ever had in the studio."
Breathing life into the songs, in the studio and on stage, is Anne's versatile powerhouse band, comprised
of some of Chicago's most in-demand touring and session musicians: guitarist
Chris Siebold (Howard Levy), bassist Greg Nergaard (Las Guitaras de Espana),
and drummer Rich Stitzel (Miranda Lambert.) Their strong ensemble presence,
forged over 8 years of performing together, is the foundation of this
record, giving solid footing to the inspired production that draws these
songs in step with Harris' fluid imagination.
Gravity and Faith is indeed a sonic sojourn into one of indie rock's
most unique and compelling voices. This is a trip not to be missed.
"The journey begins..."
Lyrics
Violet Revolution
© 2008 Anne Harris
"This song is about my journey and relationship with meditation, with my
being ever more present and aware to the best of my ability. I feel in many
ways, this is what the whole record is about. It is certainly what my life
is about.
I love bagpipes...they instill a feeling of invocation and I wanted to
emulate
that with my fiddle. I wanted that to be the first sound you hear on the
record,
sort of, 'Here it comes...' "
I’m taking a ride
Going inside
Freeing my mind
From this endless chatter
Heart be my guide
Ego aside
There is no time
In this endless after
Planting the seeds
Pulling the weeds
Growing my reach
I am universal
The wind in the trees
The sigh of the seas
The Planet, she breathes
And my heart is so full
When I open up my third eye and take a look around
I see the same situation in a different light
Breathe out and breathe in
The journey begins
And there is no end
It's a great expansion
A voice from within
Holding my hand
As I expand
To a new dimension
It’s a violet revolution
It’s a healing light
No more worry and confusion
Let’s generate Love tonight
In our deepest meditation
There is love and light
No more worry and confusion
Let’s generate Love tonight
Extraordinary
© 2008 Anne Harris
"The human species is undergoing a quite dramatic evolutionary shift right
now as we transit into consciously aware, multi-sensory beings of light.
This newly realized conscious awareness of who we are will create the space
for our collective next incarnation of ourselves and the planet, all fueled
by infinite love and light.
That rocks."
I'm dreaming up a plan
I'm scheming up a crime
of the most extraordinary kind
First
I'm gonna plant a tree
in the middle of a strip mall
and it will grow into the most extraordinary kind
and she's gonna shadow over all those SUVs
just you wait and see
Then
I'm gonna plant a garden
most improbable and magical
and it will feed 100 million hungry mouths
Then
we'll tap into our power
unified by a vision
of the most extraordinary kind
and the power of Love's gonna set us free
just you wait and see
I'm testing faith
I'm tempting hope
of the most extraordinary kind
Let's cool down our Mother
and let's raise up our voices
in a song unified let's create better choices
I believe we're unfolding
in the most extraordinary way
The Lens of Loving You
© 2008 Anne Harris
"Love is how we all view who we are, the world, our place in the world.
It is the force by which we measure ourselves. It is our mirror."
Pen in hand
my canvas open as a stretching field of snow
In my head an empty sky begins to yawn
Another endless winter
offers up an endless afternoon
And I fill it with my drifting thoughts of you
The smallest part of me
can give in to a forest full of fear
And so quick it seems I often lose my way
But you unveil the map of starlight
sitting just above the trees
As my path illuminates I’m on my way
I have walked through fire and ice
and I have seen things not so nice
but I have learned a thing or two
through the lens of loving you
There’s a place of knowing
buried in the flesh and through the bone
It’s effusive and illusive as a dream
I’m brave enough to reach my fingers
to the knowing place in you
And I know enough to know when
I’ve reached home
And maybe on some distant shore
we’ll heal the pain of this old world
my eyes will always see anew
through the lens of loving you
1000 Miles
© 2008 Anne Harris
"Fear is the inability to remain fully present. Pain is a manifestation of
that fear.
The winds of fear sometimes flicker the flame of our presence
and blow our focus backwards."
Memory don’t come for me
I been running hard
Praying for a dreamless night
A quiet blackened sleep
Reverie you taunt me so
You’re playing with my heart
Though I’ve come a thousand miles
A thousand lie before
Darkness climbs in like a thief
Invisibly disarming
Catching me so unaware
Laying me down bare
And in this bed you dance with me
Unraveling my senses
We’ve danced this dream a thousand times
A thousand lie before
It’s the push and pull of regret
Memory’s a lonesome track
It seems you are the train
Running through my broken heart
Running through my veins
I ride these tracks all through the night
Velvet cut by steel
Though I’ve come a thousand miles
A thousand lie before
You Don't See Me
© 2008 Anne Harris
"If we are to survive as a species, we must all come together as men and
women to embrace the feminine consciousness in all that is. In its most
obvious form we must embrace women. The subjectification, tyranny, torture,
imprisonment, and exile of women and the feminine aspect has led us to a
very dark, imbalanced place. The cultural imperialism of masculine,
ego-based identity has run us toward a disastrous point of no return. The
time has come to reclaim our full voices and work toward an integration of
both our masculine and feminine influences, so that we may evolve
to realize our full human potential."
For all of this time, parallel lives
running together, yet so far away
Destiny waits, fates they entwine
forming indelible signatures
I'm your ghost and I can't let go of you
You don't see me
How, how can you see yet be so blind,
blinded and bound by such ignorance?
Please, open your eyes, wake up your heart
and try to see outside your boundaries
I'm screaming out but I can't get through to you
You don't see me
The only thing original about my sin
is I'll never give up, and I'll never cave in
And how can Divinity be so small
as to not see Itself inside all?
And the holiest truth, the most humbling thing:
we all enter the world through the legs of a woman
Hope keeps me afloat, keeps my nose pressed
against the glass of your windows
I'll wait, I'll keep the faith
Someday you'll glimpse
a piece of my beckoning shadow
Lullaby
© 2008 Anne Harris
"This song came to me as a balm for my daughter.
I then wanted to soothe myself and the world with it."
Oh, my baby, don’t you cry
Rainbows only shine their light
When a storm is rolling by
Worry not this weary world
Light will melt these darkest days
So surrender to her grace
Go to sleep and dream away
Angels wait with baited breath
On the wings of every prayer
Food is Terrorism
© 2008 Anne Harris
"How can it be that profiteering and the struggle for power and control
determine
who will eat, what they'll eat, and how much they'll consume?"
Open wide
and close your eyes, don’t mind the size
the portions we are fed
Tender lies
Deception fills the plates to fill our void
We hunger wide
Turning every stone to find
the source of our unrest
They feed us lies
We feast upon the banquet of their fear
Food is terrorism
Lay your body down
Food is terrorism
Take a good look around
How we choose
To feed the best and starve the rest
Unquestioned, unexplained
Who will lose?
Who will tip the scale of all this greed?
Seeking the Source
© 2008 Anne Harris
"This song came to me as we were beginning to mix the record.
It sprang from a dream."
I’ve been watching you
Waiting for you
In your quiet spaces
Here I am
You should know me
I’ve always been here
But you turn a blind eye
While calling my name
All I want is
All of you
Can you hear me?
When you’re seeking the source of all the passion
Seeking the source of all the pain
Seeking the source of all the beauty
The wisdom that lies within all things
The impulse before each waking moment
The current that runs beneath your dreams
Seeking the source of all your visions
The courage to wake another day
Gravity and Faith
© 2008 Anne Harris
"I realized quite suddenly one day that these two things are all that keep
me
rooted on my journey of self-discovery. Everything is transitory except the
constant exchange of energy between these two disparate forces.
They shape and color my entire view of my life experience."
It seems I’m moving on
Lay to rest the struggle and the fear
This box of memories
Open up begin to rearrange
Voices from the past
A choir weaving melodies familiar
Singing of my life
Echoes painting portraits on the wall
The weight of a sorrow, the lift of release
It seems my lot in life
Grasping at the things I cannot hold
Try and try again
Wielding my desire like a knife
My hindsight is a bitch
Crystal clear horizons stretch behind me
Ahead the heavy mist
I can't see the forest for the trees
The weight of a sorrow, the lift of release
Gravity and faith
The cords that keep my feet upon the ground
The passing of these days
Shadows stretching in the fading light
An unfamiliar place
The kindness in a quite familiar stranger
Restores me of my faith
Nothing is quite ever what it seems
The weight of a sorrow, the lift of release
Gravity and faith
17 Years
© 2008 Anne Harris
"I've always been fascinated by cicadas. When I was a kid I collected jars
of their shells every summer. Their rapturous song is so beautiful and
powerful to me. I've always wanted to experience an emergence of the 17-year
cicadas and was rewarded in the summer of 2007 with the Northern Illinois
Brood of Magicicada Septendecim. We went out with field recording equipment
and taped. The power of their million-strong voices hardly translates to a
recording. To experience their collective song was breathtaking. Imagine
living 17 years deep in the earth, then crawling out and unfolding wings for
one glorious consummation that will end in your demise a couple weeks later?
It somehow sounds all very Shakespearian. What drama queens, those cicadas!"
I've been waitin' seventeen years
but it feels like a million lifetimes
Form is light changing, constantly rearranging itself, reorganizing into what it will embody next. In this dense, dark Earth the invisible work of miracles,
this transmutation of chaos into form, goes unnoticed under our feet.