Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald: Taking a Life Journey with Lindisfarne art

Sunday 2nd August 2009

After a break of nearly 10 years, Iona co-founders DAVE BAINBRIDGE and DAVID FITZGERALD have been back in the studio. Lins Honeyman reports.



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David Fitzgerald: Also, we've explored so many themes from the Celtic Christian tradition over the years and have drawn deeply from the rich teachings and creativity of early saints like Columba, Aidan and Cuthbert. With 'Life Journey', we could sense and see very tangible connections to previous work such as 'The Book Of Kells' in that we were responding to Celtic imagery and text. It was as if the years had evaporated and we were journeying through similar landscapes again.

Lins: But 'Life Journey' isn't just 'The Book Of Kells Part 2' is it?

Dave Bainbridge: Not at all. 'Life Journey' more directly seeks to be a musical accompaniment to the book from which it seeks its inspiration, following the chapter headings in order. Our aim though was definitely that the album would stand up as a work in its own right apart from the book as well as with it. The other main difference was that we started with nothing prepared beforehand.

David Fitzgerald: The wonderful thing about 'Life Journey' is that we have worked on a project that is very much about the here and now. Although Mary's artwork is certainly inspired and in some ways a reflection of ancient Celtic illuminated manuscripts, it is also a reflection of her life in the present on Holy Island. In this way, Dave and I could explore new themes and ideas.

Lins: Which sections of 'Life Journey' stand out for you?

David Fitzgerald: Where do I start? I love the whole book and recording! I do know that "Light Eternal - A Call To Believe" is special to me. When we recorded this piece, Dave and I could have gone in all kinds of directions. With the cross at the centre of the painting, the music could have been darker to express the excruciating agony that our Lord and Saviour went through for us all. However, we both got this overwhelming sense that we needed to express the sheer majesty and awesomeness of God. This was the most powerful impression that we got from Mary's painting - that our creator God's answer to all of our hatred and rebellion was to send to us his only Son, who was prepared to suffer such a brutal murder at the hands of those he made and loved.

Dave Bainbridge: For me, the track that always immediately brings me into an awareness of God's presence is "Star - A Call to Trust". When I looked at Mary's illustration with what looks like a hand flinging a star into space I was reminded of an Iona piece called "Trinity Godhead" in which we'd tried to portray a similar scene. The new track deliberately starts in a similar way and seeks to show some of the mystery of a God who can create stars and yet chooses to encircle us with his love, protection and presence if we choose to ask him to.

Lins: In the A Call To Togetherness chapter of her book, Mary talks about the intricate weaving of the carpet pattern pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels to enhance and strengthen the end result. I suppose the collaboration between yourselves and Mary is similar to this in many ways.

Star
Star

Dave Bainbridge: Very often the music that I write is inspired by a visual stimulus like something I've read or some landscape I've visited so it's very natural for me to become immersed in a book like Life Journey and start to interpret the words and images in music. So when different art forms come together as they have with this project, the interweaving of them can create a richer experience. The music can draw out emotions that maybe aren't so vivid in words alone and stimulate the imagination to reach beyond the visible realm. It's interesting to see that Mary says in her book that her illustration for the Light Eternal chapter was inspired by music from David's album 'Lux Aeterna'. And now Mary's illustration has inspired new music from us on 'Life Journey'. The creative cycle continues!

Lins: What do you hope the 'Life Journey' collaboration will achieve?

Dave Bainbridge: I hope that, as with all the albums I'm involved with, it will reach as wide an audience as possible - both believers and unbelievers. Music is an incredible art form and is able to touch people regardless of their beliefs, social class or ethnicity because the Holy Spirit knows no barriers. We can never really anticipate what God's plans are for the music but they usually go way beyond what we can imagine. We can just be faithful in doing our best and getting it out there. My main hope and prayer though is that both the book and album will awaken a deeper awareness of God's presence to whoever listens to it.

David Fitzgerald: I realise more and more how short and transient this life is. It becomes more and more clear that life is a journey from this world to that which is to come and 'Life Journey' resonates this eternal truth. It is my heartfelt prayer that this project, both the book and the album, will be used by God to touch many lives, enrich people's understanding of the love of God and to draw them into a closer, day by day relationship with him.

Lins: I hear there are some interesting developments on the horizon for Iona.

Dave Bainbridge: That's right. About a year and a half ago I would have said that I couldn't see a future for the band. It was hard to tour due to band members' other commitments and it was financially unsustainable to record another album without touring. During that time though, God had been bringing myself, Frank Van Essen, Joanne and Phil Barker into a deeper, more intimate place with him. We'd all been involved in prophetic worship music and last November, an idea came to me out of the blue for another Iona album - based on the idea of Heaven coming down to earth. I shared this with Joanne and she was actually already thinking along the same lines! She was really enthusiastic and since then she's had an amazing outpouring of songs on the theme. We just need to find the funding from somewhere now!

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