SWMUSIC “A Christmas EP”
Have you listened to SWMUSIC’s “A Christmas EP” yet? We asked Melissa Elliott and Mari Russell about their work on this album. Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at what went into it and listen to the 6-song EP on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon or here on our church’s website!
1) Tell us about the Christmas EP. What is the process for bringing a project like that to fruition?
Missy: Over the past couple years several members of the worship team have expressed the desire to learn how to write our own original songs, and also to work to create new arrangements for old songs. This Christmas EP project seemed to be the perfect way for us to be challenged in both of those ways. This project required us to set aside a night or two each week to meet together as a group, and also time to work on our own. Working on this project was a huge joy in my life, though there were definitely painful moments throughout this process where we sat together in silence, pushing through moments when no one had any ideas or inspiration. Those times were hard, but they always seemed to either spark another idea or encourage us to dig deeper. God was so faithful to us throughout this process, and I’m so thankful to say I’m proud of the final result.
Mari: The worship ministry has been working on songwriting together and developing skills in recording for a few years now, and the idea to make a Christmas EP came out of that. We also wanted to make our original arrangements into recordings so we could share them with the congregation to learn and enjoy them. The process for making something like this happen involves a lot of time, creative energy and in-person meetings to make and develop these songs. There are a lot of moving parts within the music recording world and so I have to shout out to my fellow teammates, Jonny McCormick, Josh Bruns, and Tony Weaver, who worked daily for the last 3 months straight to make this EP happen. It was a fun and challenging project. We learned a lot and hope this EP will be a jumping off point for us to write more original music in the future. This EP is a compilation of four classic Christmas songs we arranged, as well as two originals we wrote together. We met together regularly to make and record these arrangements so the congregation could learn them before we bring them into our Sunday gatherings. We are excited to get to sing these songs with all of you this Christmas season. Hope you enjoy it!
2) There are two original tracks on the EP. What was your part in writing and recording those?
Missy: I helped write Arrival, and I recorded main vocals on the track. The group started writing this song in one of our first sessions. We started from scratch on this one. No one had any melodies, chords, or lyrics written before we got together. This isn’t always the best way to start collaborative writing, but it’s interesting to see what we leave with after the first session. Sometimes we leave with the whole song written; other times we’ve ended with only a few ideas. This session ended with a theme for the song and some chords for the chorus, and I added in some rough lyrics and a melody. When we came together for the next session, Mari had run with the theme and idea, and pretty much had most of the song written out. From there we edited it a bit, changed a few things around, and even got a band together to play through the song. To be honest, when it came time to record the main vocal for the song, I was pretty nervous about it. I’ve been singing for years, but recording vocals is a different ball game. You hear every fault and imperfection in your performance, so it takes a lot of patience and humility. I really had to trust the Lord to give me confidence, and I really felt him sanctifying me through the process.
Mari: The original tracks were really fun to work on, and certain parts fell together relatively quickly which is always cool. The first song, Arrival, started with Missy being inspired by the idea of the awaited arrival of the baby Jesus and the anticipation of the promises to be fulfilled by His coming to earth as Savior. Then, she came up with a rough chorus melody and lyrics and that’s pretty much where we left it that first meeting. That’s sort of the nature of how this particular EP came together. Since we’re all coming from work and other things, we had to be very intentional with the time we had together. This didn’t necessarily mean that we were overflowing with ideas every time we met, so we definitely had to do a lot of work outside these meetings. After that session, I took those ideas and a blurry picture of our white board brainstorm home and worked on making a verse melody which led to a pre-chorus that just popped into my head randomly. That’s how the music writing process can work, which is why I love it. It’s art. If you’re an artist you know that inspiration isn’t really a schedule-able thing. That makes it even more special to be reminded that God is in control of what we create and He personally inspires it. I showed up to the next meeting and showed the idea to the team noting that if they hated it we could totally throw it out, but thankfully they liked it. We used that melody to then write a few more verses and tweak lyrics until it all fit together.
For Interlude (He is Everything), Jonny had already written most of that song before sending out a voice memo to the team. We changed the verse melody a bit from the original recording he sent and with a lot of work on Jonny’s end later, it really came together. I hope you take the opportunity to read through the lyrics on that song because it has really wonderful concepts and word pictures. My favorite part is the last two choruses. I love the picture of how Jesus took our curse and magnified Himself by rising from the dead/earth to take His place on the throne as King. This song is a full circle narrative of His birth, to His rejection, His resurrection and finally to His reclaiming of the throne, as well as all the souls who would be redeemed by his sacrifice. And if that doesn’t give you chills, then turn up the volume! It was an honor to get to work on and record this song, and I look forward to singing it with all of you this Christmas season!
3) How do you approach crafting lyrics? Where do you (or did you) draw inspiration from?
Missy: Writing lyrics is something I’m still super new at, so I am still trying to figure out what my process is. Most of the time, I pull from Scripture or a Scriptural truth that the Lord’s been teaching me. Once I’ve meditated over it, I do a free write in my journal for as long as I want, and then I’ll read through what I’ve written to see if I want to expand on anything. Collaborative writing is my preferred way of writing, because it’s nice to bounce ideas off the team and be inspired together.
We started this project in late August, so it was hard for me to get into a Christmassy mood when it was still 80-90 degrees outside. For inspiration, I read through the accounts of Jesus’ birth. I was struck by the humbleness in which Jesus entered the world. He arrived quietly, in the middle of the night, to a sleeping world. People expected this foretold Messiah to come in a very different way. The song we wrote invites us to worship Jesus in the way that He deserves, and it’s also a reminder that the plan for this world is in God’s hands.
Mari: Music writing for me has always been a lifelong goal and struggle as well. I’ve been more actively working on developing my songwriting skills in the last few years as I’ve felt more inspiration and have found support among my worship team members. I count being able to write music a huge privilege, and I am so grateful the Lord has given us the ability to create and express how He inspires us in this way. I view writing music as a very “hands open” process because you have to be willing to work very hard, even when you end up spending a lot of time with small results.You also need to be willing to let go of a lot of things and hold your ideas loosely. It can be a very humbling experience, especially when working with other people because you never know if what you think is a good idea will go over well with everyone else.
There are several different ways I approach crafting lyrics. I don’t really have a process I use every time, but on my own I typically like to do a free write just to get thoughts and ideas out of my head. Then I get a spiral notebook and just word dump on the left side and construct the song on the right. I like to think of it like I’m putting a puzzle together. The lyrics are the pieces and the song is the puzzle and I’m just trying to fit everything together. When I work in a group setting we usually do a similar thing, beginning with a white board. We all brainstorm, writing all our ideas and concepts on the board. I think with a group, I usually like to play off of others’ concepts. As in the case of Arrival, Missy had a direction which made it easier for me to go home and develop the idea further. I tend to draw inspiration from my teammates when working in a group. I am a verbal processor so it helps to work things out together. Sometimes I have a problem with writing things that sound “pretty” to me, but they don’t make sense to anyone else. I rely on help, like Tony (my “editor”) checking over lyrics, asking for clarification, etc. Getting constructive feedback has taught me how to give and take in the process. You need to know when your idea is not working, and you need to know when to fight for something you really believe in. Finding that balance is where you get the good stuff that makes it into a song. On my own, I have been inspired by a lot of Old Testament Scripture and occasional random things. I just go with it. Lately, I have been inspired by Job, which my small group has been studying as well as the prophets towards the end of the Old Testament.
4) What is the significance of the album cover art?
Missy: For the album art, we pulled the elements from the songs on the EP. I’d say the artwork can be left up to interpretation of the viewer. Even some of our team members have different interpretations of each symbol or image. For me, the star represents the journey of the wisemen following from the East, in search of the long awaited One. The lion and the lamb represent Jesus. He is Lion and the Lamb, Man and God, humble servant and mighty king. The crown represents King Jesus. The rose comes from the song Lo A Rose Er’ Blooming. To me the rose represents Jesus, that He came up as a tender shoot.
Mari: The cover art for this EP was inspired by the concepts from some of the songs. For example, to me the crown symbolizes the crowning of a king which happened to Jesus on the cross (crown of thorns) as well as in Heaven as He rose from the dead and ascended to take His rightful place on the throne after paying for our sins. Honestly, this is one of those things that is open for your interpretation. As my teammates know, I like to leave things a bit open ended because it’s always fun to hear how other people see things. So let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your stories!
5) Why do you feel songwriting is an important ministry to the church?
Missy: As we create setlists each week, we choose songs written by other artists and churches. We are so fortunate to be able to find so many good songs for our services. Sometimes though, I can’t find a song that talks about the specific truth I’m looking for, or there will be a song that I really like, but it might have a few questionable lyrics that could be confusing. Writing our own songs would help us resolve those issues. Another benefit would be for us to be writing songs with our own church family in mind. There is something really beautiful about a church being able to worship with songs written by people in their own congregation.
Mari: Writing songs as a church is a way for the congregation to sing songs that are personal and relevant to what is happening in their church body. It is certainly not the only way, but I think it is a cool opportunity to worship the Lord in the things that He is teaching us specifically. That is one of the reasons we have been setting out to write original songs. It’s a special thing to be able to see into the hearts of my friends and learn how God is working and revealing Himself in their lives. For me, songwriting is a way to express worship through a creative and emotional way. It is a huge blessing to be able to speak the truths of Jesus through this art form. Because the nature of music is one that reaches and moves at such a deep level, I count it a privilege to have the chance to create art that I can use to worship God along with my fellow believers. It has been amazing to write songs and be able to sing them with our church family so I look forward to doing it more in the future.
6) Do you have any other plans in the works? What do you hope to work on next?
Missy: I’d ask you to pray for our team as we think forward to the next step, and seek God’s guidance towards our next project. The BIG dream would be to be able to write a full album of originals one day. This dream seems far away right now, but I hope to see our team working towards this goal. As we seek out the steps for that journey, we hope to keep the inspiration going. I’m sure we’ll be releasing a couple original songs in 2022 that we can all sing together as a church family. Our continuous prayer is that any song or project that our team creates is for the glory of God and the encouragement of our church family.
Mari: I definitely have plans in the works, as do my other teammates, and we are pretty pumped to get started on them. I am always working on things but not always finishing them so I myself am eager to get back into the studio. My hope is to make more original music we can sing on a regular basis in our Sunday gatherings. Singing our own songs can be more meaningful as we can work through struggles and challenges and praise God in what he is specifically teaching us about Himself. This is one of the biggest blessings of music that God has given us. I also want to get better at, well, everything, but especially writing, recording and playing instruments so that the process will become more natural. Down the road I’d like to make a full album.
