"Now that the sky has turned to night...now that the signs are drawing nigh...now that the ram's horn sounded one last cry...now that I'm gone." These unsettling words were penned one cold morning last winter. Feeling under the weather, I picked up my guitar for some warmth and inspiration. As the strings began to vibrate, I noticed they were between two tunings I often use: Eb-Ab-Db-Eb-Bb-Eb. Rather than re-tune the instrument, I started strumming to see what voicings I could come up with. The chords of the refrain came immediately. I opened up the book of Jeremiah where Pastor Mat Shockney was preaching, and the lyrics began writing themselves....
		
The inaugural title track of The Jeremiah Record begins with a series of rhetorical questions and ends in stark judgement with a surprise promise only realized at album's end. Nestled in the middle is the dual discovery that is Jeremiah’s record: the people are found out to be reveling in apostasy, but soon bemoan the estrangement with its toilsome wages. Now That I'm Gone sets the stage for the rest of the album, where refusing to serve the Lord means learning to serve a foreign king.

#01: Now That I'm Gone

The initial three vocal tracks function as movements within a greater form, the middle piece drawing its inspiration from the first of Jeremiah's five laments. It features a simple repetitive, yet changing chorus line following the sorrowful news of the city and its fallen warriors. 
		
This song is the first of several to regard the widow's plight. It also regards the messenger’s motives, finding no delight as the harbinger of death, but becoming the weeping prophet. Musical imagery abounds as the violin represents the wandering sorrow of the prophet, the sparse piano strikes the unrelenting passage of time, the acoustic guitar is the constant voice of the messenger from beginning to end, and the driving toms and arpeggiator signal the call to siege as the people turn away.

#02: Turn Away From Me

The closing movement of the opening trilogy is the most technical music and harshest lyric. The music itself delivers a message alongside the lyric, as instrument choices shift from dire warning to pronounced judgement mid-verse. The chorus reflects a modernized four-horsemen-western feel and the bridge pulsates the frantic helplessness of impending doom.
		
Jeremiah's record is an indictment against self sufficiency. "The wise...the strong...the wealthy must not boast in... his wisdom...his strength...his wealth...but that he understands and knows ME, that I AM Yahweh..." (9:23-24). This theme is uncovered in every spin of the record, but nowhere as prominent as the shadowy figure of death confounding wisdom, sapping strength and denying riches. The ending death chant takes on several different tones throughout the record from indifference to desolation to earnestness.

#03: Where The Wise...

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