A Song is Born...

Some of you have been asking us to share how we come up with our music. We'll take you through the three most common ways that we write songs.

1. Music first, then Lyrics.
2. Lyrics first, then Music.
3. An Idea or Theme that becomes a song in less than ten minutes.


Music first...
This is usually how Sean starts a song. He'll hear a sound in his head and turn it into chord progressions or melody lines. He hears entire songs right in his head before they ever come out...every instrument, every harmony. The lyrics come afterward. We'll often sit together as Sean is playing a new wordless song, and the feeling of the song will remind me (Becky) of some lyrics I've written recently. We'll blend them together, and have a song. Other times, we'll start to feel something (probably directly related to something going on in or around our life at the time) as he's playing new music, and the lyrics will start pouring out. "Blessed Be," "Free," and "So Many Voices" happened like this. I call Sean the "King of Bridges," because no matter how a song starts, he can always come up with the most amazing sound for a bridge to fill it out. Check out the bridges to "Lullaby," and "Step One" and you'll see what I mean.

Lyrics first...
This is my "go-to" place in songwriting. I'm constantly writing down lyrics, sometimes just in little pieces when I have a thought, and other times in phrases and complete songs. My life just kind of happens in songs. While I was growing up, my mom was constantly turning our lives into hilarious parodies of songs, so I come by it honestly. Our two-year-old is already doing the same thing. Sean is great at taking lyrics and putting them to music. "Out of the Valley" started out as a letter I wrote to Sean during a hard time he was experiencing, and we turned it into a song. "All I Am," "No Excuses," and "Lesser" are some other examples of this kind of songwriting.

An Idea that becomes a song in less than ten minutes...
Some of our best songs are the ones that come to us the fastest, because they come from such raw and present places in our individual hearts. Some examples of this are "Bleach," "Lullaby," "Step One," and "Not Alone." One or both of us will sit down at a piano or with a guitar, and the whole song--music and lyrics--just happens. Sean is particularly gifted at writing ten-minute songs...I'm always in awe of what he can come up with so quickly.


So, there they are...our top three songwriting methods. If you who also write or compose, how do these methods resonate with you? What are your "go-to" ways of songwriting?

Story Behind the Song: "Step One"

Conflicted.  You pray for answers, for direction.  Do you ever feel like you know what you're supposed to do, but you choose not to listen to what it is?  Maybe you just keep on asking God to tell you where to go, what to do, because you’re really hoping that if you keep on asking, He'll give you a different option.  Afraid to move forward because you can’t see tomorrow, you don’t move at all.  “Step One” is about letting go of control and stepping out in faith.  It's about believing that God knows what’s best for you, and trusting that He won’t let you fall.    

Inspired by a deep struggle experienced by one of our best friends, the lovely Megan Kennedy (soon-to-be Williams), Step One is InToOne's newest release.  Click on Megan's name to get to her own blog--a beautiful example of what Jesus Christ can do in a heart that is completely exposed to His love and power.  Thank you for being a glorious picture of how to trust God with everything, Meggy-Meg (nickname coined by Ava Grace).  There's so much more than this song that we wouldn't have without you.  

Step One

Words and Music by Sean and Becky Bennett

Copyright 2013 InToOne Music

VERSE 1

You take step one, feeling all alone

Knowing change is coming, gotta press right on

Everybody’s got an answer, everybody has something to say

Too fast, too slow, going way to far

And Step two’s coming – don’t know where you are

Got make that choice or you’re end up falling again

See I’ve been running, chasing rain clouds

Just to keep my feet wet

And I’ve been searching, for direction

That I haven’t found yet

CHORUS

You won’t let me fall

You won’t let me fall           

VERSE 2

Out on a limb using all you got

To make a bad thing good; make the flooding stop

But nothing you do can make the rain stop falling this time

You’re on your knees begging God to change

Even though you know He’ll always be the same

You gotta take that step and follow even when you know you can’t see

I want to be the exception to

The words that have been said, I can’t stop

Clinging, from the sidelines

‘Cause I can’t see what’s ahead

BRIDGE

And God I need You, to lead me, wherever you want me

To take me, to break me, oh God make this go away

Please take my heartache, my sorrow, my insecurities

So Lord please shape me and guide me so I can take this leap

Step One will be available on iTunes on March 17th.  Get it here.

The Story Behind the Record: "Bleach"

We're putting the final touches on the two singles we'll be releasing on 3-17-13.  As we finish those up and keep pressing in to the production of the "So Many Voices" record, we thought we'd give you a little insight into some of our previous works.  So, here's the first one...

The Story Behind the Record:

Bleach

Original Release: 5-6-2010, Re-Mixed and Re-Mastered: 1-1-2013

Words and Music by Sean and Becky Bennett

Copyright 2010 InToOne Music

InToOne's debut album, Bleach suggests that getting dirt on our hands is the only way to really live the truth. Following God with everything is hard. Bleach challenges some of the unfortunate lies and pretensions that run rampant in Christianity today. 

Sometimes, as the first song on the album suggests, what we need to be set free from most is our very self. "Lesser" dares us to take off our own masks and walk in someone else's shoes. (Click here to listen to the song on ReverbNation).  With edgy rhythms and guitar leads, songs like "Apostate", "No Excuses," and "Forgive Me Later" call out favoritism, hypocrisy, and lukewarm living. On the softer side, "All I Am," "Mercy Flows Down," and the album's title track, "Bleach" are songs of surrender, grace, and laying it all down.  More than anything, we need to take up our own crosses and follow in the footsteps of Jesus: "Nail Me to the Cross."

In our music, our production, and our lives, God has grown us so much since this first album.  Bleach will always have special meaning to us as the beginning of InToOne.

Bleach is available for purchase on iTunes.  Get it here.

Our Official Website is Up!

Our official website is up and running.  Woot!

Check it out:

www.InToOneMusic.com


And don't forget to read the previous blog post to find out how to win free downloads of some brand new music.

Happy weekend!

Brand New Music: Win it!

We're releasing two brand new singles on St. Paddy's Day!

Want to win free downloads of both of them?  Here's how:

1.  Tell your friends about InToOne!  "Share" a post from our Facebook page (i.e. a song or a blog post) on your Facebook Timeline.  Once you've shared something on Facebook, leave a comment on this blog post to let us know and you'll win a download of one of the songs when it's released.

2.  Invite your Facebook friends to our concert on Sunday, March 24th at Calvary Baptist Church (see https://www.facebook.com/events/228968507240635/ for details).  Leave a comment on this blog post to let us know that you invited people through Facebook and you'll win a download of one of the songs when it is released.

3. Follow us on Twitter!  Search for @InToOneMusic on twitter, or check out our Facebook page.  Leave a comment on this blog post to let us know that you're following on Twitter and you'll win a download of one of the songs when it is released.


Make sure you leave your comment here on the blog so we can keep track of our winners.

Can't wait to share the new music with you all!

We're on iTunes!

Exciting news!  iTunes now has our music available for purchase!

Click below the photos to go straight to the albums.

"The Lullaby EP" on iTunes

"Bleach" on iTunes

Many thanks to all of you for your support and love!  And here we go, back to the studio to keep working on "So Many Voices."  

What's in a Name?

When I was in middle school, I sang in a small group of friends.  We spent many late-night sleepovers trying hard to blend endless words, numbers, and concepts into the perfect name for ourselves.  It was the Nineties.  The Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys were in their prime.  We didn't live in interesting neighborhoods, and at the time, couldn't do much more than bake cookies in the kitchen, so we were stumped.  We had heard that N'SYNC got their name when Justin's mom put together the last letter of each of the guys' first names.  We tried it, too, but decided that "YEAH" probably wasn't going to cut it on the top forty charts.  Our first choice at one point was "4th Impulse."  We envisioned this really dramatic Britney Spears-meets-Aerosmith opening for our non-existent concerts, where the four of us would jump out of a massive beating heart structure onto the stage.  Being a grammar buff to the core, I'm embarrassed to admit the fact that our fantastic idea of a heart beat representing each one of us came before we learned that an "impulse" wasn't a pretty word for a cardiovascular function at all.  Not only that, but if we all waited to do anything until our "fourth" impulse...a lot might get left unfinished.  We never did decide on an actual name.  

Props to Sean.  His first band was called, "Pure Ink."  I think that's pretty awesome.  I'd listen to a band with that kind of a header.  It sounds gutsy and raw.  They actually stuck around for a little while where he was growing up, so they had a leg up on the indecisive Maine girls who needed a better Thesaurus.

InToOne has a pretty simple back-story.

Sean and I knew that music was going to be one of our greatest passions as a couple.  We also knew that we needed a name for that music.  Fortunately for Sean, and for anyone who will ever listen to us play, both my vocabulary and my ability to make decisions before my "fourth impulse" grew a bit between middle school and the time we met.

One evening, early in our marriage, we were sitting in the living room of our tiny downtown apartment.  He was playing around on his guitar, and I was sketching out lyrics in my journal.  I usually have a Bible out while I'm writing songs because it's my favorite source of inspiration.  In light of our recent nuptials, I had it open to the book of Matthew and had been reading about unity between a husband and wife.  A passage from the chapter, commonly read at weddings, says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Matthew 10:7-9, NIV).  

And there it was.  Written in red ink.  Two becoming one.  As simple as that...

InToOne.

Scratch Tracks Complete! Next Steps...

Well, we've been making great progress into "So Many Voices," and it's very encouraging!  We have all of the scratch tracks laid down for the record, so we're now in the process of layering in instruments.  If all goes well, we will be setting up some vocal recording days in the next week or so.  The sounds we're getting are giving us goosebumps and we can't wait to share them with you!  
Remember....help us get to 100 "likes" on Facebook and we'll share something completely new.

It's been such a blessing to have our home studio.  The consistency and convenience are lending to a much smoother process than we've ever had in recording in the past.  We used to have to completely set up and tear down any time we wanted to record.  We used to be bound by the weather, neighbors through walls, cars driving by outside, and countless other interruptions.  Now, everything is in place, and the environment is completely controllable.  We're loving it.

As we've been listening to the line- up of songs over and over, we've decided that a couple of them will fit better on a different album.  Looking ahead of this record, we are already writing our next one.  As a little sneak peak, we'll share that it's all just piano and vocals.  Some of the songs you'll hear on it are "Lullaby," which is one of our favorites, and a new ballad written for our little Avianna, called "Bright Eyes."

We'll be back in the studio this weekend, so stay tuned for a new video blog post.  See you then!

Becky's "Inside" Blog

If you're interested, I (Becky) will be exploring the whole voices thing a bit deeper in an additional blog.  Check out the link in the right-hand column!

What "So Many Voices" is All About

In this life, we are inundated by voices.  They tell us who to be, how to live, what to look like, what we need, what we deserve, why things are happening, and what is real.  It can be incredibly challenging to hear truth through the noise.

The "So Many Voices" project is a journey.

We move from place to place.   Sometimes we can only hear ourselves and other times

So Many Voices are shouting so loudly that we can't hear much of anything.  We hit rock-bottom.  We get overwhelmed and nothing around us makes sense. We aren't even sure of our own identity, and we just can't seem to make anything work.  From that valley, we start to learn how to separate the voices around us and choose which ones to listen to and when to listen to them.  The most crucial moment is when we discover which voice is the One that will always speak truth to us, the One we can trust.  When we listen to that Voice, we find that the challenges in life are producing something more than the moment might reveal.  We learn how to move through them, and  that there is a bigger picture than what we can see with our eyes.  We learn that we each have a purpose.

I don't know about you, but I want that Voice to be the loudest One in my head, the One I can hear and trust and believe.  The Voice I need.  The Voice that I really listen to.  The Voice that knows me and loves me better than anybody else.  The Voice that makes me alive.    

On the Journey

We are so excited to be producing our third album and equally excited to share the journey with you all. We are video-blogging our way through the recording process, so check out the links we will be posting to find those clips at YouTube.com/InToOneMusic. You can also hear some of our music at soundcloud.com/InToOne-1, and be sure to watch for give-aways on Facebook. Check back soon to find out what "So Many Voices" is all about. Thanks for your support!