Gratitude

I've longed for my Walden Pond because I would love to just sit and think and write music for hours and hours without any interruption.

Maybe that is why I connect so much with this new album from Relient K. Because the lead singer did just that to create this album. For the very same reason I did, he got his heart broken. This next part comes from their website.

On their latest release, Forget And Not Slow Down, Relient K carry the break-up album into the 21st century, tweaking it with clear-eyed songwriting and a four-to-the-floor optimism that is positively refreshing. Yes, there’s sweet sorrow in “If You Believe Me.” And yes, there’s lingering nostalgia in “Part Of It” and “Savannah.” There’s even the occasional recrimination, as in the bitter sting of “I Don’t Need A Soul” and “Over It.” But when it comes to regret, lead singer and songwriter Matt Thiessen is not one to wallow.

As he sings on the rousing title track, “I'd rather forget and not slow down than gather regret for the things I can't change now.”

Not that it doesn’t take some effort of will. As Thiessen says, “It’s hard to forget and move on emotionally, but sometimes it’s better for you. You have to keep the bigger picture in mind. If you’re feeling sorry for yourself or reflecting on things that aren’t good, you’re not being productive. So to move forward is to concentrate on ‘What can I do better?’ That’s the whole idea of the record.”

“It’s about learning from mistakes and not just focusing on all the things you wished you would’ve done differently. Everyone has those things. What’s important is the knowledge that when you make a mistake, your life is not over.”

For Thiessen, the solitary creative process was a lot like prayer. “Songwriting and praying are kind of synonymous for me,” he says. “You’re using your heart, you’re using your brain, you’re collecting your thoughts, inner emotions, and putting them all together, and you’re saying, ‘Where does this all fit into my life?’”

No matter what trials and tribulations you encounter in your life, it doesn’t have to be the end of your story. You can move on and be happy and experience joy.” 

So I have this album until I can do that myself. This is my Therapy.

I never thought I'd be driving through the country just to drive

with only music and the clothes that I woke up in.

I never thought I'd need all this time alone.

It goes to show I had so much yet I had need for nothing but You, but You.

This is just therapy.

Just call it what it is with a death grip on this life always transitioning.

This is just therapy 'cause you won't take my calls

and that makes God the only one who's left here listening to me.

Letting it all sink in, it's good to feel a sting now and again.

I hope it's one less woeful thing there is to fight through.

Getting it all begin,

fresh paper and a nice expensive pen.

The past cannot subtract a thing from what I might do for you,

unless that's what I let it do.

This is just therapy.

Just call it what it is with a death grip

on this life always transitioning.

This is just therapy 'cause you won't take my calls

and that makes God the only one who's left here listening.

Loneliness and solitude are two things not to get confused

'cause I spend my solitude with You.

Gather all the questions of the things I just can't get straight

and I answer them the way I guess You do.

 'cause this is my therapy,

'cause You're the only one that's listening to me.

This is my therapy,

just call it what it is and what we were with a death grip

on this life that's in transition.

This is my therapy

'cause you won't hear me out and that makes God the only one who's left here listening.

This is my therapy.

Just call it what it is with a death grip on this life always transitioning.

This is my therapy 'cause you won't take my calls

and that makes God the only one who's left here listening to me.