infinite (infinite)
every star cries infinite
every grain of sand cries infinite
every generation’s generation cries infinite
everything, everything
infinite (infinite)
The crafting of the album “Ad Infinitum” has been my most precious to date. It feels like a very personal and private act of worship, becoming public. Ever since I was a little boy I have been fascinated by the infinite, and how whatever number you think of, there is always another that’s bigger. I look around at creation and cannot believe that we are here by chance. And if we are not, I need to ask further questions. Now, over forty years after those first thoughts stirred, I can begin to vocalise them through lyric.
Ad Infinitum – Tracklist
- Ad Infinitum
- The Audience Of One
- Your Tour Guide To Paradise
- What Are You Thinking?
- Pi
- Born
- Lazy Eight
- D.T.
- Triangle Love
- Imagine Being Adam
- Numbers
- Beautifully Different
- The End?
- Musical Chairs
- Completion’s Kiss
The first, and title track of this album, “Ad Infinitum”, was also the first to be penned, helping to set the scene and steer the whole collection. I began to let my imagination roam into what it would be like to be a cherubim encircling God’s throne, never seeing the same thing twice. What really blows my mind is that this always has been, and always will be, the case. I dwell on the thought that God is that magnificent it would be impossible to take Him all in – forever. This is the same for His creation. After all, He made it. If I, as a human being, could encircle our globe I would never see the same thing twice. I would never tire of enjoying the brilliance of His design on that macro scale, no matter what destruction humanity had afflicted. At God’s scale, everything remains in order; the world remains turning and remains in His hands.
Ad Infinitum
[chorus]
what if I was a cherubim
encircling the throne
(encircling the throne)
never seeing the same thing twice
ever praising (ever praising)
with awe and wonder
awe and wonder
ad infinitum (ad infinitum)
what if I was a human being
encircling the globe
(encircling the globe)
never seeing the same thing twice
ever praising (ever praising)
with awe and wonder
awe and wonder
ad infinitum (ad infinitum)
“The Audience Of One” is a very powerful and motivational track for me. It is the song where I feel God has most directly commissioned my lyric writing. These last six months have felt like I’m really beginning to step into who He has made me to be, honouring and fulfilling the creative call He has for my life. All the book creation, journaling and poetry writing have been the preparation ground for this explosion of lyric writing. There is no greater honour or thrill for a life, to be undertaking what God wants you to do. I feel very clear that I am called to primarily care for my wife and write lyric. Often the two beautifully dovetail. Hannah is being so blessed by the songs I write for her, and by an album like this that is so uplifting.
The Audience Of One
[verse 3]
this is way beyond thinking
way beyond worry
of who you’re writing this for
you are writing for me
writing with me
let it pour
let it pour
it’s what I brought you here for
it’s what I created you for
(created you for)
I adore the third track of the album, “Your Tour Guide To Paradise”. I get goosebumps every time I listen to it, as I allow the lyric to imagine what Heaven will be like. I picture arriving, and Jesus personally escorting me around, pointing out details with such unbridled joy and passion. I’m not sure our minds are currently capable of comprehending just how stunning it will be, but I have fun trying. It is such an uplifting space to reside, and this track helps lift me there.
Your Tour Guide To Paradise
[chorus]
welcome, welcome
open your eyes
let me be your tour guide
to Paradise
come, stay forever
and retune your eyes
to expanding minds
of everything kind
with all that there’s been
a part of what’s seen
in eternal gleam
of opening eyes
opening eyes
I could easily tiptoe through each of these fifteen tracks and share about them. I am blown away by the variety and continuity of the flow of the music. I say this, not to self-congratulate, but to give the praise to God. Some will say this is all down to AI, but I feel it is God working powerfully through the technology and a willing human servant. It is a privilege to partner with Him to create something meaningful, thought-provoking and beautiful.
The whole album is structured like an echo, with track 1 echoing 15, 2 echoing 14, 3 with 13, and so on, up to the central track 8 titled “D.T.” This lyric was given to me in the early hours and I wrote it pretty much as you now hear it upon the post-it notes beside my bed. We all have a decision to make – what we think about God and the meaning of life. Look around you. Look at the scale of our Earth. Look at the vastness of our skies. Look at the stars. None of us have an excuse not to question. D.T. D.T. D.T. – Decision Time – the clock is ticking…
D.T.
tick tock
tick tock
what’s the time?
drink up
drink up
before your tea gets cold
before you get cold
tick tock
tick tock
decision time
“Pi” feels like a beautiful metaphor for the infinite, and for the precision and genius of God. The circle is so symbolic of the unending nature of God, and of life. For Pi (the ratio between the circumference and diameter of this circle) to also be infinite is stunning. Mathematics like this is beyond poetic, beyond musical. As the lyrics say, this poem for pi makes a grown man cry.
Pi
I finally taste
I finally eat
and it’s not what I thought
not one to repeat…
as we open the pie
and we hear it sing
of the infinite
(the infinite)
transcendental
and uniquely beautiful
transcendental
and uniquely beautiful
a poem for pi
(a poem for pi)
and his circle of friends
(his circle of friends)
see a grown man cry
(a grown man cry…)
How do you close an album that is all about the infinite? Ultimately, you can’t! This is a recurring theme throughout the collection – while a single piece of music, or indeed a single note, has a beginning and end, the music of life is without end. The final track, “Completion’s Kiss” takes the kiss as a metaphor for embracing the eternal, and completion. There is a fragility to any kiss given on Earth – none of us know when two lovers may be parted by death. Yet that ultimate kiss, when we intimately embrace our infinite, in our eternal home, will be like nothing we have experienced. I can’t wait!
Completion’s Kiss
I picture the music
reaching the end
that’s never the end
to the piece
bringing peace without end
and the joy flowing round
again
that it all has no end
we all have no end
to completion’s kiss
completion’s kiss
completion’s kiss
kiss
I am loving making music on earth. I can’t wait to make music in Heaven!
I pray that you will be truly blessed by this album – an infinite celebration of our infinite exploration…