Without Words

Bethel Music

Credits: Producer, Musician

I am feeling quite long-winded right about now because this is one of my favorite albums. Go on a journey with me, if you will….

There is a paramount challenge for any instrumental album : You are removing 2 of the listeners’ subconscious favorite elements of the songs — the lyric they identify with, and the vocalist whose voice they have grown used to hearing sing the lyric.  The listener is left with nothing but the melody of the original song.  This is the equivalent of removing your favorite picture from a frame and just keeping the frame on the wall.  There is still the song’s original melody (the frame), but playing only the melody verbatim on even your most favorite song from your favorite artist without the lyric and vocalist you love is… lackluster at best.  (For instance, find an instrumental version of Coldplay’s “Clocks” and you’ll hear how it feels far more nursery rhyme/elevator music than it does epic).  

In order to stray away from “Elevator Music” versions of the songs, Garrett Viggers and I opted to create a sort of “rediscovery” of each song for the listener to experience. Some melodic and musical elements of the original non-instrumental versions are contained within each track, but they are anything but verbatim.  Chords were changed, time signatures shortened or lengthened and/or different, and the arrangements were reordered from the original sung versions. We did flirt somewhat with each song’s melody, but it is almost never obvious which song we are approaching unless you look at the song title. We also stayed away from many typical “worship” instrumentation. Drum kits & Bass guitar were seldom used, and electric guitar never makes an appearance on the album. 

It was a gamble for sure… And yet somehow we stumbled onto a beauty we didn’t know we’d find. 

To keep things engaging, we used nearly every instrument we could find — from old analog synthesizers, unusual percussion, Celtic instruments, etc.  We also used every object of communication past and present we could think of such as typewriters (Yes, I was spelling something intentional when I typed on that song haha), Ham Radios, Vocoders, Telephones… and even Morse Code! We also intentionally committed to pure analog sound sources to create something warm and inviting, as well as one of a kind.  Absolutely no Midi programming or samples were used on the project. 

Though Garrett & I played 80% or so of all of the instrumentation, a massive team of other musicians existed behind this project.  Our collaboration was a blast and without the team as a whole this project wouldn’t be what it is. 

Well done, everyone. 

PS - On the non-musical side, Nathan Grubbs album cover concept was absolutely genius. I recall him telling us how he dropped an anvil on the old typewriter and snapped pictures of the aftermath. It was a glorious visual that captured the title perfectly.  The rest is history.

PSS - Bethel Music was an exciting label to work with at the time because they seemed to have little care of what the rest of the marketplace might think of their albums. Instead, they trusted the creatives around them and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to guide the creative process. I loved working with them on every album — and this one was the most creatively fulfilling of them all in many ways. 

PSSS - If you’ve never seen the “God I Look to You” video from this album, here it is. 

Forgive my fingerless gloves. I have no idea what I was thinking, except that it was winter and kind of cold outside, I guess?  Garrett, Graham Moore, Jason Miller, Chris Greely & I all recreated the parts Garrett and I had played during recording, and showed how the textures for this album were recorded — in real time. A STELLAR filming job by the Bethel Media team. Top notch for sure.  Enjoy!

“God I Look To You” [Official Video]

The Team:

  • Produced by Gabriel Wilson & Garrett Viggers

  • Engineered by Gabriel Wilson & Chris Greely

  • Mixed & Mastered by Chris Greely

  • Executive Produced by Joel Taylor & Brian Johnson

Played by:

  • Gabriel Wilson - acoustic guitar, delay, drums, Fender Rhodes, grand piano, guitar, harmonium, keyboards, analog loops & synthesizers, percussion, reed organ, string arrangements, typewriter, upright piano, vocoder

  • Garrett Viggers – banjo, Fender Rhodes, Hammer Dulcimer, harmonium, melodica pump organ, string arrangements, vocals

  • Daniel Mackenzie – banjo, bass, editing, vocoder

  • John-Paul Gentile – acoustic guitar

  • Graham Moore – percussion, vocals

  • Amy Renee Miller – vocals

  • Jenn Johnson – vocals

  • James Gabriel – string arrangements

  • Jeremy Larson – string arrangements, strings

  • Rebekah Van Tinteren – strings

  • Kendra Wieck – strings

  • Hannah Jeanpierre – strings

  • Daniel Schafer – horn, trumpet

  • Jerry Aaronson – ham radio