CAVES – NEEDTOBREATHE
****
CAVES is NEEDTOBREATHE’s ninth studio album and their first since 2021’s Into the Mystery. The excellent album, which features eleven new songs, was produced by Cason Cooley and the band, and features collaborations with Carly Pearce, Judah & the Lion, Foy Vance, and Old Dominion. NEEDTOBREATHE has been making music for more than twenty years and this new album was my favorite for 2023.
Here are a few comments about each song:
The Cave – This upbeat opener was written by Bear Rinehart, Josh Lovelace, and Mokita. The song opens with guitar, with the full band kicking in before verse two. The song features a guitar solo. He needs some time to be on his own in a world without a mirror.
Key lyric:
First light is coming and there’s
No more need for hiding
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- Song of the Week Lyrics ~ “His Mercy is More” by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa, featuring Cochren & Co.
Everknown – This uplifting song was written by Bear Rinehart, Seth Bolt, Josh Lovelace, Tyler Burkum, Chance McCoy, and Mokita. The song is inspired by those in the band’s lives who have helped shape them into the people they are today. The song is dedicated to the humble heroes that don’t get enough credit for the good they have brought to the world.
Key lyric:
You left us everything, but still you’re leaving us more
How Wonderful We Are – This love song was written by Bear Rinehart, Josh Lovelace, Tyler Burkum, and Mokita. The song begins with keys, and then backing vocals and drums are added.
Key lyric:
The hole inside my heart is a place where you fit in
Dreams – This upbeat and inspiring song was written by Bear Rinehart, Judah Akers and Mokita, and features Judah & the Lion. The voices of Rinehart and Akers blend well.
Key lyric:
Fools like us are only here to prove
You make dreams come true
When You Forgive Someone – This upbeat song about forgiveness was written by Bear Rinehart, Jason Ingram, and Josh Kerr. The song speaks to how forgiveness is not easy. It features some nice guitar, drums and backing vocals.
Key lyric:
Oh, when you forgive someone
You set yourself free
Wasting Time – This upbeat song was written by Bear Rinehart, Josh Lovelace, Cason Cooley, and Chance McCoy and features Old Dominion. This song, which will sound great in concert, features a guitar solo, and some nice backing vocals.
Key lyric:
You can do what you want with your time
But I don’t wanna waste mine
Fall on Me – This love song was written by Bear Rinehart, Jason Ingram and Steven Furtick and features Carly Pearce.
Key lyric:
You will always be
The one that I can call
The safest place to fall
For me
Hideaway – This upbeat love song was written by Bear Rinehart, Trent Dabbs, and Mokita. The song features some nice keys and backing vocals.
Key lyric:
Not sure what I can change but I’ll be your hideaway
By and By – This upbeat song about heading to our heavenly home was written by Bear Rinehart, Trent Dabbs, and Mokita. The song features an excellent guitar solo.
Key lyric:
One day the sadness will be good as gone
When you and I arrive in the by and by
Reaching Out to Find You – This midtempo song about reconciliation was written by Bear Rinehart, Dave Barnes, and Jordan Reynolds. The song features keys, guitar, bass, drums and backing vocals.
Key lyric:
Cause if we ever wanna reconcile
We might have to erase the lines we’ve drawn
Temporary Tears – This beautiful song was written by Bear Rinehart and Trent Dabbs, and features Foy Vance. The song features guitar and a choir. Rinehart and Dabbs’ voices blend well.
Key lyric:
Oh, joy, oh, joy, come roll away
These temporary tears
Favorite songs:
Dreams
When You Forgive Someone
Wasting Time
By and By
Reaching Out to Find You
Temporary Tears
- The ‘In Christ Alone’ Stanza That Makes Joni Want to Leap. Joni Eareckson Tada writes “Everyone familiar with the lyrics to “In Christ Alone” has a favorite line that swells the heart with joy, comfort, and, sometimes, conviction. But there’s one stanza so compelling that it’s emotionally irresistible.
- John Piper on the Vital Doctrine in the Hymn “In Christ Alone”. In this short video, John Piper and Keith Getty sit down for a conversation on the vital doctrine in the hymn “In Christ Alone”, written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.
- U2 at Sphere. U2 has long been one of my favorite bands. We were fortunate to see one of their Achtung Baby concerts at the new Sphere, which was an incredible experience. This video of “Even Better Than the Real Thing” will give you an idea of what that experience was like.
- Be Yourself: Wilder Woods. Enjoy this video of the song “Be Yourself” by Wilder Woods with The War and Treaty.
- How Great Thou Art (Until That Day). “How Great Thou Art.” Marking the 75th anniversary of this cherished song written by Stuart K. Hine, a group of award-winning artists (Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher and more), came together to celebrate and record a new version, “How Great Thou Art (Until That Day).” Watch the video for the song here.
This week’s song of the week is “His Mercy is More”, performed live at the 2023 Sing! Conference in Nashville by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa and featuring Cochren & Co. The song was written by Boswell and Papa. Watch the performance here.
Verse 1
What love could remember no wrongs we have done;
Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum.
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore;
Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
Chorus
Praise the Lord!
His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness; new every morn;
Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
Verse 2
What patience would wait as we constantly roam;
What Father, so tender, is calling us home.
He welcomes, the weakest, the vilest, the poor;
Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.
Verse 3
What riches of kindness He lavished on us;
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost.
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford;
Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.