COMMONERS COMMUNION & JONATHAN CLASS

LAUDS is a unique collaboration between Composer-Artist Jonathan Class & Poet-Writer Strahan Coleman (Commoners Communion/Strahan) .

LAUDS is the first of a 2 EP soundtrack from the Commoners Communion Podcast. An invitation to reflection and prayer in our everyday commutes, working environments and homes. Based on the morning prayers of the monastics (called lauds) this first EP is written with daybreak in mind. A way to turn our faces towards newness and the always-invitation to receive the warmth and glow of God.

An EP of four instrumentals, these songs were written in a symbiotic relationship between spoken words and the interpretive suggestion of musical composition. It’s not uncommon to find poetry and spoken words written to fit existing musical compositions, it’s less so to hear what music sounds like when it’s written specifically to dance with and shadow the natural tempo, intuition and temperament of conversational speaking.

And that’s exactly what these songs do, they dance among the words and themes of the prayers and contemplations they were written to support.

LAUDS is a musical work full of empathy, adventure, energy and hope - prayers in and of themselves. It’s a collection of songs that listen to the human condition and the longings we all feel and respond by inviting us to share them more deeply and more honestly in prayer.

All the music in LAUDS is written, performed and produced by Jonathan Class in response to episodes written and recorded by Strahan Coleman on the Commoners Communion Podcast. Jon’s gift and talent for wrapping up the heart of the words in voiceless song is evident in the power these compositions hold on their own. The words, though absent from the album, are present in spirit as the inspiration for its movements and rhythm.

A powerful friendship of song and devotion that we will hope will create new spaces for you in your daily rhythms of living.