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“It feels like the most well-received music we’ve released to date, which is just beautiful,” Joel Smallbone said recently. “As an artist, you’re only as strong or as weak as your last moment. I feel like it’s part of our duty as artists to really write honestly, whether it’s socially, romantically or spiritually about where we find ourselves. Then you layer in this reality of putting your heart on your sleeve and there’s a real vulnerability to it.
“As a creative process, this one felt much more settled because we have a bit more of gauge of who we are and where we’re going,” he continued. “It wasn’t any easier to write and record this record. In fact, having that real clarity of vision of what we wanted this one to be, made us even more finicky. We found ourselves writing very romantically and writing very socially and writing very spiritually on this one and there was a balance between Luke and I that never existed on a record before. I’m really proud of that.”
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The Smallbone brothers grew up in Nashville, but they were born in Sydney, Australia. Joel says they were blown away by the reception at a recent concert at the Sydney Opera House.
“The way we were embraced in our birthplace was incredible,” he said. “It just blows your mind when you write these songs 7,000 miles away and four months later you can go down, look out and see these people singing them. Somehow, they’ve made it all the way down there where people have already made these connections with the songs. We were flabbergasted.
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“Bono says it well when he sings a lot of ‘Joshua Tree’ songs,” Smallbone added. “He says, ‘These songs are no longer my songs, they’re your songs’ because people have owned them so much. I felt that on a small scale on that tour. These are no longer my songs, they’re your songs, they’re our songs and that’s a beautiful thing.”
HOW TO GO
What: For King & Country's Burn the Ships World Tour
Where: Hobart Arena, 255 Adams St., Troy
When: 6 p.m. Saturday, March 16
Cost: $22.50-$65
More info: 937-339-2911 or www.hobartarena.com
Artist info: www.forkingandcountry.com
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