The Small Voice Record, Vol. 4

Greetings, friends!

It’s been a long and frustrating, yet ultimately fruitful winter of work for me here in Portland. Frustrating, because I was struck down with wave after wave of sickness for almost four months, resulting in my singing voice being rendered fairly useless for recording. Although physically healthy now, my voice still isn’t restored to the place it needs to be for me to record these new songs. I’ve never felt so incapacitated, especially during a season in which I would have hoped for optimum health! Needless to say, this has created a sort of crisis within my process, and forced me to exercise trust and faith that all things will in fact work together for good... and in the right timing. I’ve been praying that the Lord would be my physician, and I’ve been trusting in His promise that, “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As humbling as it is to feel a sense of powerlessness in regards to my mortal frame, I take heart in the words, “Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.” I’m confident this album will be completed, but only with the help of God's strong arm. In the meantime I’ve felt like Noah, toiling away in the desert, building a big boat with the expectance of the coming rains. For months and months I’ve been building and collaborating in recording all of the instrumentation for the album. Each song’s been built from the ground up using my initial scratch vocal tracks as the guide, and as it stands, nearly all of the instrumentation is completed for the entire 18-song album! Now the music is just waiting for the voice. Let it rain!

Recent Studio Guests Video : "Words Remain" Three of the songs on my next album were headed up by a gifted production team called Mason Jar Music. They’re a group of composers, music engineers, videographers, and musicians, all working together in Brooklyn, NY. This past summer they invited me out to shoot an orchestral version of my song “Words Remain”. It was such a magical night, and I was so impressed with their work, that I asked if they would consider doing some orchestration on my next album. To my excitement they said yes! Here’s the video from that night in New York. Timeframe I’m down to my final four weeks of recording, and my wife Michelle is working hard on the album art! Our plane tickets are booked, and we’ll be flying out to Boulder, CO to mix and master the album with David Wilton on April 10th. We are still hoping the work will be in production by May and in our hands (and yours, too!) by some point in June. Prayer Partnership Here are ways you can pray for me right now: That my voice would be healed and restored to the health needed to finish this work with excellence. That I’d continue waiting and working in faith and trust, and not give way to fear and anxiety. Financial Partnership God has been faithful to carry us through this project with the help of friends. If you feel led to contribute towards this final sprint to the finish, here's what your gift will go towards: The final costs of mixing and mastering the album in Colorado with David Wilton. Art production and overall album layout. Manufacturing of the first pressing of 2,000 copies of “Love & War & The Sea In Between” You can send a check to: Small Voice Records c/o Josh & Michelle Garrels P.O. Box 11500 Portland, OR 97211 Or you can donate electronically by clicking here or by visiting the "Store" section of my website. Thank you for all of your love and support! Warmly, Josh ©2011 small voice records | P.O. Box 11500 Portland, OR 97211