Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
Please pay what you like!
Purchasable with gift card
name your price
about
A few years back, I spent a heap of time thinking about the nativity, in the midst of one of the warmer summers I can remember spending in Australia in recent memory. It occurred to me that if you peel away the layers of religious symbolism and spiritual grandeur from the whole motif, what you expose in essence is really just a simple tale of a young mother in the midst of a deeply human experience. Scholars have suggested that Christ was likely actually born in June (July worked better for the lyric, but you get it). So picture, if you will, this.
Mary, young woman of simple means, together with her husband takes shelter in amongst a bunch of livestock on a hillside on a warm night in provincial Palestine, and settles in for the birth of her first child.
Beyond the dutiful watch and the exaltation of heavenly host and kings, after all of that time and labour, she exchanges her very first knowing gaze with her son. This boy, carried and given, his mother - hoping for him expectantly all that time - finally face to face, tears and all.
I spent a few afternoons sitting on my bed, reflecting on the intimacy and fragility of that scene. It struck me as this really pure and essentially unadulterated expression of adoration, sacrifice and of deep, sincere love.
I guess this song is my attempt to draw the humanity of the nativity out of the pages of antiquity and into plain view. This song is for you, I hope it finds you well, and I really do wish you all the best in this holiday and indeed in every season.
Take care of each other,
With love, Rhys. x
lyrics
See here for lyrics:
http://intheheartland.tumblr.com/post/181309856820/mary
credits
released December 22, 2018
Written and Arranged by Glyndwr Rhys Stamnas.
Co-produced by Glyndwr Rhys Stamnas & David Muratore.
Engineered, Mixed and Mastered at Jubilee in Waverly, Sydney, Australia by David Muratore.
Additional tracking completed at Village Church in Annandale, Sydney; as well as at the Wykniet residence, 'Dalhousie', in Haberfield, Sydney.
Glyndwr Rhys Stamnas - vocals, acoustic guitar, bass
David Muratore - drums
Novak Manoljovic - piano, organ
Cameron Miller - lap steel
Jenna Wykniet - violin
Solomon Steele - electric guitar
James Walder - trumpet
Harry Day - trombone
With thanks and endless gratitude to the ensemble cast of extraordinarily talented friends who lent their time, hands, breath and boundless creativity to this song - you have brought this simple little tune to life in a way I never imagined possible.
Special thanks to Annandale Village Church, and Solomon Steele, for allowing me to make use of your wonderful hall and grand piano.
And finally, in whichever meagre way I can, I give thanks to the God of Israel. If he hears these sounds, and there are times (few though they are), that I may just believe he can - I hope he takes joy in them.
x
