This is a blog entry by our bass player and singer Matt White, the songwriter and lyricist of the song “Let Me Know That You Are Here.”
“I wrote this song in 2011, when I was going through a difficult season. It explores several themes - the dissonance when what you feel doesn’t align with what you believe, the struggle of trying to find hope in the midst of despair, and the cyclical nature of the battle against depression. The speaker in this song is currently feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and completely separated from the God who is his source of hope. Musically it cycles between three sections: the first is the speaker’s prayer/mantra/meditation: repeating his spiritual beliefs to himself as a way to center his emotions and praying to God to restore intimacy between them and rescue him from this place of darkness. The second section is the speaker venting his negative emotions to God as he becomes overwhelmed with despair, frustration, and inwardly-directed anger. Every painful moment of his life is weighing on him and he doesn’t know how to let it go and heal. This leads into the third section, where in desperation he cries out to God, “All I need to know is that I’m not alone- if nothing else, just let me know that You are here.” The song also has a musical epilogue, which features the voice of someone yearning for hope amidst despair- expressed beautifully by a dear friend who succumbed to the battle and took her own life. The epilogue is a memorial to her and a cry from the heart to anyone who is currently struggling in this battle. You are not alone.”
-Matt