2019 (Detweiler Records)

Shrine is about prayer and the most beautiful thing ever created.

Instrumental. All sounds by Scott Detweiler. Composed and produced by Scott Detweiler. 2001, 2019 Detweiler Music, ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.

Shrine is an instrumental composition inspired by prayer. Actually, prayer

2019 (Detweiler Records)

Shrine is about prayer and the most beautiful thing ever created.

Instrumental. All sounds by Scott Detweiler. Composed and produced by Scott Detweiler. © 2001, 2019 Detweiler Music, ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.

Shrine is an instrumental composition inspired by prayer. Actually, prayer attempt. Detweiler explains…..

“When I say, ‘I pray’, or I tell people, ‘oh, I heard your dad is sick….I’ll pray for him…’, or, ‘I’ll pray that you get that job…’, etc, it really means that I will try to pray. Because whenever I start to pray, my mind starts racing…going on tangents that have nothing to do with prayer or even what I had originally set out to do when I decided to ‘pray’. Thoughts about work, or my dog, or my schedule, or my family, new music or whatever, fly through my mind and distract me from the actual prayer. I used to think that this phenomenon would end someday or that I would master my own mind to the point that I would be able to lock into prayer mode and lock everything else out. But at this stage of my life I am resigned to the fact that this is something I may have to live with. I am not giving up hope. Perhaps it is a dream. “

“Often times when I pray I am able to cut through the madness of distracting thoughts, zeroing in on a dialogue with God. And when I do it is glorious. It makes the whole idea of prayer a worthwhile and important endeavor to me. It is through the exercise that I get to spend time alone, time to myself…time on myself. This time alone gives me valuable introspection about where I have been, where I am now and where I want to go….”

Shrine is Detweiler’s musical interpretation of the endeavor of prayer. The chromaticism infused groove sets a hectic pace from the beginning. This represents the effort it sometimes takes to actually get to the act of praying. And then, of course, the fervor continues as random thoughts and ideas start racing in and out of the mind, distracting the campaign.

The trumpet solo (1:18) represents the voice of God. It is the breakthrough, or as Detweiler explained above, “….(the) cut through the madness…”. It is when the focus of the mind delivers the intended connection to the maker. The muted horn sound gives the tone restraint without being overbearing, depicting a gentle tone of the voice of the Lord. The space between the notes of the solo indicate wisdom, much like the cadence and pace of the words spoken by an older person when in contemplative mode.

The piece then goes out as it comes in: wild and feverish as the distracting, non-prayer related thoughts race back through the mind…until the next breakthrough, when the voice of the Lord might be again heard.

ABOUT THE COVER

Detweiler has always designed his own cover art for his albums and singles. It is a true extension of his music that is reflected visually. During the course of his over 30 (thirty) years in this practice, the single, “Shrine”, proved to be one of his more challenging. Detweiler explains, “I really struggled with trying to represent the effort of prayer (described above) in one frame for the cover of ‘Shrine’. I did several covers but I couldn’t come up with anything that worked. So then I thought I would just put a picture of an impressive place of worship….mosque, temple or church….but that seemed to be stale, too, because it would not tell a story. I needed a story in one frame”.

What he would ultimately settle on is what the cover of ‘Shrine’ ultimately became: the female torso.

“I did end up deciding to use a picture of the female torso, from the belly of the breasts to the middle of the hips. This is because after thinking about it for a long time, about the word ‘Shrine’ and about its definition, I realized that the female torso is one of the most powerful things ever created. It is the center of life and lust all rolled into one. I thought of the wars fought over it, its role in the doctrine of much of organized religion and that it ultimately produced all of the people who have shaped the history of civilization”, says Detweiler. “…and of course, it is one of the most beautiful things ever created”.

This is Detweiler’s, “Shrine”. From his Detweiler Records 2004, all instrumental album, “Slumber Tongue”, digitally released for the first time.

All sounds by Scott Detweiler. Composed, engineered and produced by SD.