专辑简介

The entire City of GOD record was written during the summer/fall of 2005 behind cloistered walls at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist KY. It was during the previous year that I became interested in the writings of Thomas Merton (1915-1968) who was a Monk at this Kentucky Monastery.

The story goes something like this. While finishing up some schooling (and gobbling up anything I could find written by Merton) a position was offered to me by a professional rock band. At first I declined given that I had already spent ten years of my life playing and touring professionally. However, the temptation to be back out on the road combined with my wife’s encouragement eventually lead to me to accept the position. Having already moved plenty of times because of being a full-time musician, I really didn’t have the energy to up and move my family down to KY, which was where the band was based. So, my plan was to commute to KY (a nice little seven hour drive) until I felt right about moving down there.

Even though, by this point, I had read a lot of books by Merton I still did not know where the Abbey of Gethsemani was actually located. It was only after being in the band for a few months that the lead singer called me up one day to inform me that Merton’s Monastery was less than an hour’s drive from his house which needless to say, did not feel like a pure coincidence.

My time in the band eventually concluded and with that my ability to regularly visit the Monastery but the impression left by the abbey is always with me. City of GOD is a project that, more than anything else, tries to capture certain aspects of my experiences there at the Monastery. The place changed my life and as an artist, I felt the need to express this change in the language of music. Some may consider this record a failure, but City of GOD is not a lie. It is the most authentic and sincere thing I have ever struggled to articulate and for that reason alone, I consider it a success. - Chris