Waking Ashland: Composure

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Waking Ashland delves into relationships with the other/God from the very beginning of their album, Composure, and does not let up. InI Am For You, the I AM rises up to love and save…againstThe comfort we create to prove we’re something, we’re starving/Screaming in the night because you want answers from the one/And there’s hope again. The one is answering in the refrain, against the cold comfort in this song, and against theShades of Grey that the singer has fought through in the opening track.

InRumors, the singer crossed the desert and fights through the sea, knowing that the other is calling.I was afraid that you would never come alive/There for me when I was scared of you/You were there for me when I wasn’t there for you, Ashland sings. True for the apostle Peter having denied his Jesus and then waits for Him to rise three days later, unwilling to hold onto false hope. True for the believer who doubts and yet believes. We doubt, we are scared, and yet we know that looking back, Jesus was always present.

WhileEdinger expresses the confusion of fate, mistakes, and choices, the chorus ofOctober Skies breaks through into the clear:And I, I’ve been running to nowhere/You’re nowhere, you’re nowhere/And I, I feel something getting closer/Come clearer, come clearer.Let Go echoes more of the same, possibly with the view of Nicodemus, the Jew who wanted to learn what Jesus was saying but who struggled to reconcile it with what he knew already. The questioning of one who longs to know but who does not quite understand is painfully relevant to Ashland and rings true in the day-to-day life of anyone who values the heart and the mind.

Still off the fresh reminders,Hands On Deck cries out for someone to right a sinking ship:I need a miracle to save me from this/And I need the angels to all pray for me/I can’t believe you…asanother worry breaks right through/And indecision bleeds me dry. Faith is not completely mental but is emotional and experiential as well (it is tough to cope with individually sometimes!)—it requires the Other to break through our existence and for reality to be transcended.

Relying on that Other’s breaking through,Long Shot andSilhouettes share the beauty of relaxing in that realization and the luxury of God’s patience with our mistakes. Doubt and acceptance are a roller coaster ride though:Same Problem andMedication raise worries that God/other will leave Ashland behind because of recurring mistakes. The rise up again of hope inOverjoyed expresses the stability and consistency of God to provide that love and overcome doubts no matter what.

The Composure album closes withSing Me To Sleep as the band sings a ‘never be alone’ theme:Who are you, what do you want?/I’ll claim nothing/When you’re whispering/The truth has made its way into my head. How much we could learn from this subtle understanding: God whispers and we still hear. If only our ‘sharing the gospel’ with others would be done in a loving whisper, rather than a pounding roar. God can make His point with a whisper—why can’t we?

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