IN BETWEEN THE NOW & THEN

     Songstress Amanda Falk had the distinct honour of winning the GMA Canada Covenant Award for Female Vocalist of the Year for four straight years, they being 2005 to 2008.  She penned all fourteen songs on her third and latest album IN BETWEEN THE NOW & THEN (2010, Signpost Music) which was produced by Adrian Bradford.  The instrumentation on the album is wonderful and includes bass by Matt Pierson, guitars by Gary Burnette, and strings by Yuri Hooker and Gwen Hoebig.  Amanda shares her purpose for this collection of songs: "My hope and prayer is that this record meets you in whatever 'in between' you are presently in and slams your life with the hope that is in Jesus, who is the inspiration of all things hopeful in these songs...I myself find hope in the imagery of light breaking darkness..."
     'Paper Planes' a nicely syncopated song about finding security in God begins the album: "And I am driving down the road/Never knowing quite where to go/But Your light will lead me home/You are home, You are home/You are home to me" and "I'll sleep well at night/Knowing He who never sleeps is by my side/'Cause You're here with me for life."  'That's What You Do' is about moving on after a relationship falls apart and would fit nicely on mainstream radio: "What do you do when you can't have what you want/What do you do when you can't have who you love/What do you do when you can't have the one/Who feels like home to you?/I need to let go/Of the hold you have on my life/Cause I know/That better things are 'round this mountainside/So I'll climb/And I'll try/To fall asleep for just one night/Without a tear to my eye for you."  'No More Shadows' reflects on being trapped by regrets from the past: "Why are we living in the shadows of yesterday/The ashes from last night's cigarettes have blown away/Still memories, they haunt us, of the/People we used to be/Why oh why oh why do we live this way?"
     'Unbreakable' is a joyful song about God's faithfulness: "You are holding/You are holding/You are holding me/And when the world is breaking apart/You'll be holding my heart/And You are/Unbreakable."  'Symphony' is a powerful love song: "One look from you and I know I'm beautiful/You give me courage to admit when I am wrong and start over/So at the start of every adventure/Peering over the edge with you is where I want to be/That's where you'll find me/Whoa, one foot in front of the other/Whoa, here's to hand in hand forever/'Cause you'll still be running by my side/When the world falls to its knees/And we'll still be dancing when the world has lost/The ability to hear/The symphony."  'Landslide' shows a rockier sounding side of Falk and is about a relationship ending: "Our love is/A disaster of infinite proportion/And I'm caught in the aftermath of your affection/Like a time bomb/I am waiting on the moment to arrive/The Russian roulette of our lives/Whoa, how do you hold on to a landslide/When you know all that's left is the letting go/Letting go?"
     'We will Wait' is a beautiful ballad featuring cello by Claire Indie.  It finds Falk putting her hope in the Lord: "So we will wait/For the Son to rise again/'Cause You are coming/You're coming back and then/You'll rebuild things broken/Retrieve things stolen/Restore our tattered hearts."  'In a Moment' is one of the most commercial sounding songs here, and talks of how Falk's life was drastically changed as a result of an encounter with God: "Then I met You, You saw through my/Act one scene two putting on a show for You and/You called me out from the disaster I hid behind/Pulled me into the light commanding the facade to step aside/And in a moment everything had changed/In a moment, in a moment/Past regrets once called my name/Are fading, are fading/The things that held me down are gone/Are gone now, are gone and/Only Your love carries on."  'Look for the Light' reflects on the seasons of our lives: "But the snow will fall/This I know come autumn/And the sun will rise/After the longest night, after the longest night/Look for the light (4X)." 
     'Horizon' is a musically unique sounding song of praise that declares who God is: "You're my horizon/You bring the light in/You bring me hope when hope is gone/You're my horizon/You bring the light in/You break the dark with the dawn/You are the Light/Light of the world/You are the Hope/Hope of the earth."  'Song for Matthew' features Falk on piano.  It is an emotional song that details the pain of losing a child: "And baby, baby/You can hear me/We'll be waiting here/And maybe, maybe/When we finally meet again/We'll cry happy tears/We miss you, we miss you/We miss you today/We hope you felt loved through the pain of yesterday/Though you're in a better place now/It doesn't take away from/The way we wish to see your beautiful face somehow/We'll be waiting."  'See You Again' has Falk singing passionately about the brevity of this life we live here on earth: "This gone is not goodbye/This is not a final goodbye/We're not far behind/We're following you/I will see you again/This is not a final goodbye/I'm gonna close my eyes and then I'll count to ten/Oh I/I will see you again."
     'Redemption' rejoices in what Christ has done for us: "Everything that I was to blame for/Was a trade for/Your hand in mine/The spear that pierced the side of my Savior/Was a payment for my life/You've seen every one of us flounder/In the water/We were drowning/But You dwell and delight in the impossible/Of raising us to our feet."  'Your Child' runs almost eight minutes and reminds us we should find our sense of belonging in God and not the world: "This is a road well travelled/By many before/That has brought me beaten/To the redemption door/Now my soul is knocking/I will sit and wait/To hear You say, to hear You say/That I will remain Your child/Though the world will take its toll on me/And I fall to the ground/And everything I've known comes crashing down/Oh I will remain Your child."
     IN BETWEEN THE NOW & THEN clocks in at 62 minutes and 17 seconds.  This is generous in an age where most albums only run 35 to 45 minutes in length.  The photos of Amanda Falk included with this project show she has a cute nose piercing and an infectious smile.  I'm recommending this project to fans of the pop and adult contemporary sounds of Nichole Nordeman and Bethany Dillon.  I'm rating it 88% for its artistry.  For more info visit http://www.amandafalk.com/ and http://www.signpostmusic.com/.