Returning to the "Now"

If you look back at my March Favorites post, I addressed why I wasn't doing a separate post for the new Fireflight album, Now. I just wasn't interested in it enough, though Fireflight has been among my favorite bands for a couple years. But this summer I modified my opinion.

I really should have written this follow-up post two months ago, after I finished reading How It Ends and had an emotional moment that allowed me to truly hear what Now offers. Like I said in the Favorites post, Now isn't so much about emotional uncertainty and confusion; rather, it has reached a higher plain. It is a half-breathless keeling out from atop a cliff, a cry for strength that in itself makes you feel strong enough to rise up into the wind--to become stronger than your physical self. To understand more than your physical mind. It's more about resolution, if you will.

And I can't believe I didn't at least mention before the song "Stronger Than You Think." Yes, this is one of the louder songs on the album (and therefore a bit more like previous Fireflight songs), but I liked it from the start. It's terrifically empowering; I'm constantly finding the chorus rising into my mind when I need it to. And the opening song, "Stay Close," I also can't believe that I didn't overly like this song at first--the emotion, the emotion. It's a desire, it's a breath, it's a prayer--all captured in three and a half minutes.

So sorry for my earlier ambiguity. I just wasn't in the right emotional mood to understand this album. For this album has a better understanding of the world than I perhaps did when I first listened to it. Love you, Fireflight, and sorry I didn't get to see you when you were in Phoenix this month.