The Bewildering Light, by Ben Thomas / So Elated

The Bewildering Light

by Ben Thomas / So Elated

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

10-track album

Also includes immediate download of 12-track album (including 2 bonus tracks, also a 2-song video download) in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

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$8 USD
Full Digital Discography

24

releases

Get all 24 Benjamin Jay Thomas releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mantrasongs for Starting Over, Oh Mycelia (Mantrasong 053), I Belong (Mantrasong 052), Give Up The War, Seas and Trees and Mythical Creatures (Demos from an RV), The Wilderness Voice EP - Advent Journey Edition, The Way Up, The Way Up (Full Album + Meditations), and 16 more. , and , .

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1.	Zechariah And The Least Expected Places 02:39	buy track
2.	The First Noel 04:32	buy track
3.	Stick with You 02:56	buy track
4.	Greensleeves 02:26	buy track
5.	God is with Us 04:15	buy track
6.	It Came Upon a Midnight Clear 03:37	buy track
7.	Shepherds and Angels 03:39	buy track
8.	Come Thou Long Expected Jesus 03:24	buy track
9.	Eastern Star 03:53	buy track
10.	O Come All Ye Faithful 03:47	buy track
11.	Angels We Have Heard on High (Bonus Track) 02:19	buy track
12.	Shepherds and Angels - Party Version (Bonus Track) 03:27	buy track

about

Purchase the entire album and get 2 bonus tracks, "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Shepherds and Angels (Party Version)" as well as a 2 song video of a live performance from 2008.

"The Bewildering Light" was recorded at Wheatland Salem Church in Naperville, IL over six short days. I had just written most of the songs the week before. We tracked most of the record in the traditional sanctuary of the church, complete with gorgeous sounding wooden ceilings and spacious sounding grand piano. It's a straight-forward acoustic record featuring some of the talent you may have heard at recent live shows... lots of Luke Harris' upright bass and John Dudich's skilled guitar. Julie Wachter lent her voice to a few songs and Sorcha Barr added some flute to the mix. Shawn Hubbard and Pete Brennan helped engineer and mix the project. The gorgeous artwork (as shown above) for the album was done by the talented Pete Griffith. At one point there's even a 100-person choir... it was truly a team effort.

The record is made up of ten tracks, five of which are newly written songs and five of which are new renditions of traditional Christmas carols. The record deals with several characters in the Gospel events surrounding the birth of Christ. Each of the songs I've written attempts to dive into the personal lives of these characters... in particular how their lives were turned upside-down by the wonderful but bewildering news brought to them by angels.

credits

released November 1, 2007

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 written by Ben Thomas,
Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 10 public domain, arranged by Ben Thomas and John Dudich
Parts of track 8 public domain, parts written by Ben Thomas

Ben Thomas - guitars, vocals, piano, percussion
John Dudich - guitars, whistling
Luke Harris - upright bass, cello, mandolin
Julie Wachter - vocals
Sorcha Barr - flute
Wheatland Salem Adult and Youth Choir - vocal choir

Recorded at Wheatland Salem Church and at the Delivery Room
Produced by Ben Thomas
Engineered by Shawn Hubbard
Mixed by Ben Thomas and Pete Brennan
Mastered by Ben Thomas and Shawn Hubbard
Artwork by Peter Grifith (pgriffithcreative.com)

Special thanks to Wheatland Salem Church for the use of space, RJ Recording for the use of gear and Tara Safavi for letting us use your cello.

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Benjamin Jay Thomas Leavenworth, Washington

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