A Beacon of New Music!
What’s this? A brand new album release! Where is Soldier On, the new album with the latest single Alpha and Omega? Surprise! We present you with an entirely different album to dive into and enjoy while you wait for the colossal Soldier On release!

It’s been a bit of a race, both of the two projects have been in the works for nearly two years now. I’ve gone back and forth a few times as to which one I thought would actually be completed first and alas, it looks as though Lighthouse has come to the finish line first. For those of you that were expecting the Soldier On release, it’s still on target for release this November if all goes accordingly. The latest hitch to the Soldier On album getting completed is a failing hard drive in the recording studio. Yak! Hopefully this will not set things back too much. All will be resolved soon and production will continue! Now, on with the details of the new album that we find here in front of us, Lighthouse! The time is truly right for the release of this album and it seems to me to be an excellent follow-up to the last album Transformation.

A Theme of Light
Lighthouse is not so much a concept album as it is an album with a collection of songs that share a common theme. It’s an album about finding the light, searching for personal truth and the choices that we all face along the way on this journey of life. There is always a choice to be made that determines the direction we will take our life in and this album is about listening and searching out the signs and guides that can help us along the way.  If we stop long enough and quiet our minds, we will hear the answers, see the beacons and feel the directional pull within our hearts that will allow us to find our personal truth and way. The guides are all around us, in the people we know, within nature itself as well as deep within our own hearts. Each of us has a personal truth that is unique. Only you can know when you have found the way that is right for you. Love and life are a tidal flow. All we can do is dive in and see where it takes us.

Production Philosophy
Lighthouse features eleven new recordings, many of which are songs I have been developing for several years. The production style of Lighthouse expands on a direction that I’ve touched upon with songs from previous albums by combining elements of ambient, trance and dance to the predominant rock styles resulting in what I like to call a transcendental rock experience. How’s that for a new genre?

I wanted Lighthouse to have a unique sound compared to my other releases. The decision to incorporate and layer in electronic drum grooves over the rock and roll back beats has certainly given many of the songs a cool new vibe. I’ve been listening to a good deal of ambient releases such as The Orb’s Metallic Spheres featuring David Gilmour and this inspired me to try a more electronic production approach to the overall sound of the album. The end result is an album that I feel has a focused sound from start to finish. Whereas Transformation was an album that relished in experimenting with a wide range of musical styles, I really set out to produce the songs on Lighthouse to share this common sonic theme.

Cover Art
It’s not hard to notice the similarity in the cover artwork for Lighthouse and the cover artwork for Transformation. I saw this as a perfect transition graphically from the last album to this one because it appears as if things are moving into a more focused vision. Which is actually a perfect representation of what the past two years of my life have been like, as an artist and as an individual. Transformation was the beginning and that graphic reflected a coming into being from essentially nothing, whereas the Lighthouse artwork has a more defined symmetrical harmony and brilliancy of focus.

Indeed my life has changed greatly in the last two years, I’ve become a vegetarian and had quite a few personal revelations that have made me more aware of who I am and what I believe in. All of this personal work is reflected in this album as well as the next album Soldier On due later this year. So, more is to come!

The light in the center of the artwork, represents to me the individual soul or spirit energy that makes us each unique. It resides in a vast universe of blue that is filled with the energy of every living creature, all interconnected and all part of the whole. To better understand how this philosophy weaves into the songs on this album, I’d like to walk you through each song and what the music means to me. I still encourage you to take away from the songs your personal meaning as they may apply to your journey.

Track by Track walk-through
“Love Light Alive” The lead off track and the lead off lyric pretty much sums up the entire theme of this album. “Each and every one you love today, becomes a beacon light that guides the way“. Each of us carries a spark until the day we pass on when this spark transcends back into the universe. A song of reconnecting with life and the love that is around you, becoming one with all. As my girlfriend deemed, this song makes you want to do tai chi, even if you don’t know how to do tai chi.

“Deep Inside” Sometimes the way through truly is within us all along. If we spend all our time looking outward for our answers but never look within; we may be missing out on finding the purest and simplest of solutions. Much of the time, we already have all the tools within us to succeed, we only need to look for them within. “Feel the right in time“.

“Energy” This song was originally on the Pathways album with a much different production style. I stripped away the electronic drum beats from the original version and presented it in the style that the song has evolved into for our live shows. I really think that this version fits better with the overall vibe and message of the song. “Everything combined is energy“

“Infinity” Infinity was written on a beach looking up at a full moon many years ago. This seems to be a recurring theme on the Lighthouse album so including this song on the album was a no brainer. Looking up towards infinite possibilities while firmly rooted in a sense of self, we realize that no matter how large our problems and worries seem; under the grandeur of nature, we gain a perspective that puts trivial matters in their place.

“Hypnotized” A song that ultimately deals with the confusion that can surround us when we are faced with confronting difficult life choices. The answers may be present but at times are veiled with emotions that blind and confuse our reality. Hypnotized was also featured on the charity release album “Strength” to benefit the relief efforts in Japan.

“Adrift” Imagine a night swim in the ocean with a full moon above, floating weightless and drifting aimlessly. Ahhhh.. Adrift is an outtake from the Pathways recording sessions. It was a bit too ambient and abstract for either Pathways or Transformation but it was without a doubt a perfect fit for the Lighthouse compilation. The only instrumental track on the Lighthouse album, it makes for a nice reprieve in context of the whole.Originally entitled “Drift”, I changed it to “Adrift” to fit in more with the Lighthouse theme.

“Lighthouse” The title track to the album and what I feel in the centerpiece to the entire project. At times, we all may feel as if life has us a bit “lost at sea” searching for a beacon to guide us back home.

“The Choice” Sometimes we chain ourselves down by refusing to make a choice at all. Indecision can be cancerous and we’re better off relishing in the times of pivotal change and just go for it. In the words of Neil Peart of Rush, “if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.”

“A Different Path” Sometimes as we make our choices and make our way, we have to realize that we won’t always be right in our decisions and it’s never too late to make a course correction and adjust our heading. It’s never too late to change. A pretty straight forward tune with a straight forward message. As long as we continue to move forward and make progress, then we’re still walking the right path.

“Shine” ”Burn bright and learn to shine”. I can still hear my mother’s voice in my head every morning as she would wake me for school with the words “Rise and shine”. I suppose that could be the original inspiration for where this one came from. While I let the guitars remain in the rock vibe, the groove of this one is all about a bit of reggae.

“Mountains” The greatest force in this universe that enables us to summit large mountains and reach higher than we ever thought possible, is love. This song was originally recorded during the Transformation sessions. I brushed it up with a few new electric guitar parts and it really seemed to fit nicely as a final statement for this album. “Our love will take us higher“.

Now the Music is Yours
Well, that’s my track by track walk through the new album and what it means to me. No longer just my music, it is now our music and I hope it lives and travels far and wide. I’m extremely proud of this release and I hope it touches your soul, possibly makes you smile or even helps in some small way to inspire you to continue your search for love in the event you’re still searching. If you’re in full embrace with your love, then I hope it makes you want to relish in thankfulness for having grasped the boundless and embraced the divine. Get up and dance! Life was never meant to be taken so seriously as to chain yourself down to things that in the end, probably don’t matter much. Take care of yourself so you can take care of the ones you love.

Peace, love & light!
JOF