MERCHANDISE SALE TO CELEBRATE OUR NEW SITE!
Join us in celebrating the launch of our brand new website by saving big on our merchandise! Get 10% off any & all items (shirts, hoodies, CDs & more) in our merch store by entering the coupon code NEWSITE upon checkout. The code expires at 11:59PM Friday!
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Our Self-Titled EP Explained
Don’t Wake Aislin’s new EP is a journey from start to finish. It’s a concept album, meaning that each song is part of a story: the story of Aislin. Many wonder what Don’t Wake Aislin actually means, and no, it has nothing to do with a certain lion from a certain book/movie series. Aislin is an Irish/Gaelic word meaning dream. The band’s name and message is simple: don’t wake the dream that God has called you to. Chase it. Conquer it. Have your own story to tell.The story of Aislin is as easy to relate to as the faceless character artist, Marcia Furmanpainted for the album. Each song has a painting that helps illustrate Aislin’s journey. I’m going to go through each of the five songs on the EP and give my interpretation of the story.The first song is titled Through the oppression by the wicked. The opening song is an anthem to those who stand out from the crowd. The lyrics begin with, “Here I am, a pretty weed in a garden of roses.” The roses that surround Aislin are trying to influence her to be like them, but she can see past their cookie cutter ways. Aislin poses the question mid-song, “Who am I? A pretty weed that no one needs, but I’m right where I should be!” Those powerful lyrics are definitely words to live by. Instead of being changed by those around you and the world’s wicked ways, be the change you wish to see in the world! You are right where you’re supposed to be. The verse that inspired the first song is Psalm 55:1-4.The second song is titled the moon keeps track of the seasons. This part of Aislin’s journey is about her stumbling through life experiencing love and heartbreak as the seasons change around her. The lyrics to this song are as hypnotizing as Deena’s incredible melody. “You could be a dream and reality in one.” She concludes the song with, “I can tell this is not the place for me, so be my memory.” As many of us have, Aislin has realized that the relationships she’s experiencing belong in her past and that she needs to move on keeping them only as her memory.
The third song is titled But, Oh for wings like a dove. I love love love the dichotomy used in this song. The song begins with a beautiful heartbroken harmony by Deena, “I can’t fly anymore without my wings, you tore them apart without warning, I can’t fly.” Just as you prepare yourself for the ballad of the album, the killer drum fill and upbeat guitars kick in. The lyrics and feel of the song completely change, as most of us have experienced after heartbreak. “Just watch me, I am gonna take the leap, lifting off of my feet. You can try to bring me down on the ground, but I will always want more. You just watch me soar.” This song exemplifies a different Aislin. She’s confident, she’s independent, and as you sing along you seem to think that she finally has everything figured out, but she was missing something in her flight, something very important… and she begins to fall.
The fourth and most powerful song is titled, “to escape the tempest and storm” The beginning of this song live preludes with a warning: prepare yourself, the storm is coming, and indeed it does. We’ve all experienced lows in our lifetime and this song is Aislin’s low. Her confidence alone couldn’t keep her a flight. The song is heavy, and makes you truly feel the emotions that Aislin is feeling. The dialogue in this song is Aislin figuring out what her life has been missing all along. She begins to ask herself, what will happen to her when she dies, where will she go? She makes a call to Christians, “Lets crack open the sky and light up the world.” And she enlightens us, “You think the chosen are few? We are all the select.” She ends this dark time in her life with wisdom, shouting, “He is our light! Day or night a refuge from the storm, a shelter from disaster. He is the refuge from this storm.”
The fifth and final song is titled, Then, the sun will rise and the flower withers. At this part of the story, Aislin has landed from her fall in a dry, lonely desert. She sees a plant scorched by the sun and she uses her broken wings to shade it from the deadly heat. As she sleeps the plant grows into an unusual tree (depicted on the cover of the album). It grows upside down. The branches, which represent Aislin’s weaknesses are hidden under the earth and it’s roots, which represent her strengths are spanned across the open sky. On one of the branches of the tree sits a dove, which represents the Holy Spirit, who had been there all along guiding her and had patiently waited for her to come home. This song represents resolution and closure. It is an anthem to the Christian lifestyle with powerful lyrics to live by such as, “So take it all, and if you can take everything. Because I’m worth more than this world can settle with a score.” The song and story ends with an incredible statement, “To tell you the truth, I am nothing without Your love. To tell you of love, it is nothing without the Truth.”
The journey of Aislin is an incredible testimony, but the band in and of itself is a challenge. Live your dream and create a beautiful story of your very own. This band has been called to write music with a purpose and they definitely delivered with this EP. The art on the back cover is a comforting conclusion to the story. It reads, “But I will be there, when all that is left is a barren stem.” The painting is a peaceful representation of the pretty weed and roses that have withered. The pressures and temptations of this world die with the world, but we have comfort knowing that our faith and dreams live on and that we are never alone.
The album is available online at iTunes, but we strongly suggest getting your hands on a physical copy with the storybook insert and the amazing artwork by Marcia!
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All New/Official Don’t Wake Aislin Website!
“Welcome to our brand new website! We’re busy writing new music and booking for 2012. Be on the lookout for blog entries coming soon!”
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Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from all of us in the Don’t Wake Aislin family! Keep us in your prayers this year, and we’ll do the same for you. Love you guys!
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