Vespers III & IV has landed in iTunes!

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Quick links:

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vespers-iii-iv-ep/id885834731

BandCamp (save a buck, and get extra goodies):
https://aaronstrumpel.bandcamp.com/album/vespers-iii-iv
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Official Press Release:

Forever spinning and burning, the sun persists on its path through nothingness, throwing heat through the void every morning to warm our world; taking its heat with it when it leaves our skies every evening. We’re left to endure the cold of night, the mystery and fear of darkness, and simply, the other empty, vast side of space. This shift in heat and light is sacred and even with our heaters, lightbulbs, buildings, and comforts, we can feel it, even if only peripherally. Dusk brings us an awareness of mortality, of life ebbing, of loneliness, of need.

For centuries, contemplatives have marked this time of day with prayer services called “vespers,” a celebration of sacred stillness and a recognition of our acute need for God’s proximity. In two sets of three songs, these Vespers III & IV, were written during this time of day, in this frame of mind, in the pursuit of God, in the working out of the day’s consolations and desolations, in the expression of love for the One who calls us out of our cycles and proclivity for isolation and darkness.

This is the second release in a series, the first being Vespers I & II, for which Christianity Today said, “Aaron Strumpel worships as if his life is hanging in the balance.” This second set gives no quarter to comfort or complacency. There is the urgency of the psalmist, the resolution of the pilgrim, and the desperate hunger for sustenance only God can give. It’s a call to keep eyes focused, hearts strong, and feet moving.

Written, performed, and recorded simply by Aaron Strumpel in his studio, Shovel Studios, this record is a lean and rich offering of prayer and supplication. It is a hoping for hope, a hoping for joy, a yearning to love, and a yearning to be loved.

May you, Fellow Pilgrim, find your hopes and dreams, sorrows and joys, whether whispered or shouted, unlocked in the listening. Godspeed on your journey!

A tiny note this morning – we have entered the final stretch for this record! Thursday is our last day to be a part of this project…whether it’s getting cool prizes at the $5, $15, or $500 levels (it all makes a difference!), this project will be something we’ll all be proud and excited to have been a part of! Click here to join in.

Have you ever read Sufjan Steven’s blog? It’s worth a couple of visits a month…he intersperses pure hilarity with vintage art with grammar lessons with personal wisdom. When I was preparing for this new album and Kickstarter, I saw this from him and I loved it:

FACT: There is far greater joy (and pleasure) in giving than receiving. Perhaps it is not so much the “intention” of nature (I mean who really knows?), but the “will” of humankind (speaking optimistically, and with great hope) that contains this boundless capacity for immeasurable generosity and love (which is possibly irrational, against nature). Give more than you can take. Give everything you got. Even if it kills you. This is my prayer.

That’s why musicians put their music up on Noisetrade. Being so moved, they create, and in that powerful moment, they can’t help but give…

It’s my honest prayer with this new record, Bright Star, to give more than I take, everything I’ve got, even if it kills me…

Come be a part of the giving through this Kickstarter. Together, with enough help, we can make something truly beautiful, something we’ll want to give away over and over…until it kills us!

We’ve got 6 days left to make it happen.

Here’s the link: Bright Star Kickstarter

“Those who cry their tears unheard will wash away the ash.  Those who mourn their prayers unheard will wear their beauty well.”

These first lines from the song Sixty One off of my Birds record bring to mind people who cry out and mourn, the world turning a deaf ear on their plight; people who are so broken and beyond repair that literally no one cares to listen…and then it states, like Isaiah’s famously beautiful 61st chapter, that God will “bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.”

That’s an absolutely incredible promise, a complete 180, a full out coup on the established state of existence!  If you’ve ever been in a place where you feel completely broken and unheard, you know what a miracle it is that the God who created everything would pluck you out of your despair and clothe you with garments of beauty and praise.

The song continues by heaping words of affirmation.  They are the words that we, as a prophetic people of God, get to heap on our friends and fellow women and men,

“You’re drenched in gladness and clothed in praise!  Your arms hold a strength hard-won! Your roots are planted deep!  You’re built on strength that fire can’t destroy!  Your treasure is found in the ones that you love!  Your homes are filled with joy!”

I wrote this song the first night I visited  The Oak Project, a beautiful group of people in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Their mission statement “is to foster safe, authentic and nurturing environments for single mothers and their children in order to forge lasting relationships and emerge as advocates of personal and social change within our at-risk communities.”

You can find it on my record, Birds, which is currently being offered up on Noisetrade as a free download.  Click here to download the record and share it with anyone you think might enjoy it.

Hello! What a brilliantly cold week we’ve had in Colorado. I hope you’ve fared well braving the elements across the country. I know it’s been tough here.

I’m writing to let you know I’m working on a new worship record right now – it feels really crazy to say this because my whole life is spun around the Psalms and leading worship, but what with all the recent creatively-charged projects, I realized that I haven’t released an album of songs specifically for worship gatherings since my two records with Enter the Worship Circle!

So currently I’m beginning a new writing phase, and looking to record soon. In order to do that, I need your help and have launched a Kickstarter Campaign.

I think you’re really gonna love these songs, so please, consider backing the campaign early and spreading the word. The campaign will last thirty one days and I’ll be writing and posting new demos all month in the “Backer” area, so once you pledge, you’ll get to hear new songs, give me feedback, and be a part of this first crazy writing process!

Click here to get to the Kickstarter Page

You’ve been so supportive and good to me over the years and for that I’m so very humbled and thankful. So please, join in and see this new project do great things with me!

Yours,
Aaron

Coming from the creative worlds of Aaron and Dobsy, these four humble little songs were born in a day when Dobsy brought his electronic landscaping to the studio and Aaron put down some words. Over the next couple of weeks, sonic treats were added and the talented Dave Wilton was enlisted to master and polish the tracks.

Partially motivated by a desire to collaborate and have fun, we also timed it so that it could help us raise funds to go to Costa Rica for some worship ministry with some dear brothers and sisters we’ve been partnering with and growing close to in San Jose.

Please take a listen to the tracks, pick up the EP and support us in this endeavor, even buy the rad shirt (EP included!). We have left the “let fans pay more if they want” option open and would encourage you to be generous – we can’t do this without your help!

Click here to listen.

We’re now a month into our 6 week tour and I wanted to let you know that a month ago, our first stop in OKC, our car was broken into and $2,300 worth of gear was stolen – we filed the itemized list with the police and nothing has turned up. I’m attempting to replace some of it this week, especially the time machine backup for my computer (nervously going w/out for a month, yikes!) and wanted to put a note out on Facebook letting you know, if you have an Aaron Strumpel CD you’ve been thinking about buying, please do – it’ll go directly towards replacing stolen goods and we really do need some help…

Also there’s an option at the webstore to add more as a donation or you can straight up send money via Paypal if you feel led: sales@aaronstrumpel.com

Webstore: http://aaronstrumpel.bandcamp.com/

Thank you so much – love from the NW!

Well, today is Good Friday. For me it always represented pretty literally, “the day Jesus was crucified.” My Catholic friends and I would stand in the street of our Cleveland neighborhood looking up, convinced of His death by the dark clouds that always seemed to be in the sky on this day. I would go to my family’s church and play the violin solemnly in the dark only lit by candles. These are some of the only memories I have of good friday in the church, aside from the stress of being dressed by my mom for the entire weekend.

Today I am in a coffee shop on the coast of California only about a block away from the ocean. Once again, the clouds are covering the sun. It reminds me of those younger days when I would be so exited to see what the weather would be. Somehow the sun being hidden from me was some sort of cosmic sign that told me for sure that today, Christ died for me….that I should be saddened with the shrouding of the light, but building with expectation for the third day.

I have never been rooted in the particular tradition of a certain church. My story, I’m sure, looks very different from yours, but again I am sure that those same feelings of sadness are preset. It is to truly “know that you know that you know” what your Father has done for you. And the expectation…”knowing that you know that you know”, that He is indeed alive.

If you’d like to follow/get to know the deep-welled-Cameron, he’s got a good bit of Insta-Cred.

Also attached is a song I wrote on Good Friday and recorded on my “Enter the Worship Circle: Chair and Microphone Vol. II.”

The steps:

1. In 2 minutes, write as many nouns associated with birds’ nests/trees that you can think of.

2. In 2 minutes write as many adjectives associated with the Mississippi River that you can think of.

3. In 2 minutes write as many verbs associated with a Jazz Show at a club that you can think of.

4. Take 10 minutes or so and write a story, poem, song, whatever you’re feeling using primarily (but having complete freedom) the words you’ve put down.

The Results:

My God I’m muddy and diffused, I’m cloudy and confused, I’m stumbling from disuse

My God I’m deep and undone, I can’t see the sun, I can’t see to run

So won’t you roar and clap and sing, Won’t you move and sway and swing

We’ll invent a brand new way to be, Swing low swing high swing close to me