Mercy Seat » Composers

Thanksgiving Liturgy

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:17:22 +0000

Greg Schaefer composed the Thanksgiving Liturgy on banjo the Saturday after the 2011 Thanksgiving holiday. The title is in reference to the holiday but not confined to it, because every day of life can be Thanksgiving. By it’s nature the banjo gives the songs a rootsy feel, but the intention was the punk rock rock style of short concise simple songs.

I’m thrilled to have assembled an all star ensemble for the liturgy’s debut:
Dana Thompson (Minor Planets) – vocals / guitar
Drew Miller (Boiled in Lead, Felonious Bosch) – bass
Grant Johnson (Bitter Spills) – guitar
Greg Schaefer (GST) – banjo

The Middle America Mass

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:42:19 +0000

Scott debuted this mass in October 2011. In his own words:
The Middle America Mass was composed during a season of recovery from an overseas automobile accident that left me unable to play music or work for a number of months. Mercy Seat kept me afloat during that season, providing for me physically, financially, spiritually, and emotionally. As I returned to playing music again I wrote this mass for Mercy Seat. The music calls out quietly from the place that we call home – a spare, honest sound in a large, open space.

Holly Newsom

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:11:53 +0000

The City Pages said it best:

Newsom’s voice is the hook. Hazy and laced with vintage twang, it almost whispers at the end of some phrases, while contrarily resonating with power and conviction at others. She may be only 23, but there’s an old soul residing beneath that ribcage.

As the front of the Twin Cities minimalist rock band, Zoo Animal, Newsom has received quite a lot of attention in the last few years. Her presence on stage is enthralling, her voice carries shock, and her song-writing is mesmeric. Holly brings her liturgy Resonance to Mercy Seat in July 2011.

Resonance

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:04:04 +0000

In July 2011 Holly Newsom (of Zoo Animal) will debut the meditative and minimal liturgy called Resonance. As Holly describes it,

I’ve really been learning sometimes you have to position yourself so that you resonate with the truth. At first it may not feel natural, but once you allow yourself to relax, your being becomes in sync with the spirit and you find yourself able to move freely in the truth and it doesn’t feel binding. I used very minimal, repetitive notions musically in this liturgy to give the mind room to concentrate on it’s own being and how it is relating to Christ. It is meant to allow the partaker to meditate on the words and how real they are.

Listen to live recordings of the debut:

Vox Humana Mass

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:27:24 +0000

Vox Humana Mass was envisioned as an occasional liturgy by Wes Burdine that would try to incorporate more members of the church community in creating the music for the liturgies. It is an a capella composition with roots in blues (a la Nina Simone), Eastern Orthodox liturgical singing, and traditional ballads.

Reunion Day Mass

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:53:02 +0000

The Reunion Day Mass came from a long-standing desire to pay homage to musicians such as Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. It was an attempt to change up the alt-country moods of some of our liturgies and inject some new melodies into our theological bloodstream at Mercy Seat. Thematically, it takes up the promise of deliverance, especially in the Song of Praise, “All My Friends are Comin’ Back to Jesus” and the cross-lament of the Sanctus, “I Cry, ‘Holy!’. It also includes the song “Reunion Day” that encloses the service parenthetically, promising, “It won’t be long ’til that fine reunion day.” The band is composed of liturgy regulars, Scott Munson and Jayanthi Kyle (of Black Audience), plus Mike Berger (of Cincinnati punk outfits toolshed and The Bushrocks) and Kim Larson.

Take a listen to some live recordings from the debut of the Reunion Day Mass.

Scott Munson

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:18:35 +0000

Thanks to Mercy Seat’s uncommon kindness and belief in cultivating new art, Scott received his first composing commission before anyone had heard his music. His first liturgical mass, The Good News Bad News Mass, debuted in the spring of 2008. Since that time, Scott has gone on to perform as a weekly solo jazz pianist in Northeast Minneapolis and to compose a second mass for Mercy Seat, The Sacraments Mass, in summer 2009.

In addition to freelance music production and music instruction, Scott began composing for film in early 2010. Endlessly writing and picking up new instruments, Scott continues work on his own material for eventual recording and live performance.

Preview Scott’s Sacraments Mass

or his Good News Bad News Mass

Good News Bad News Mass

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:44:35 +0000

With the Good News Bad News Mass I sought to incorporate the passion of the Negro spirituals that I love into the sonic context of a western high-church setting, with its enormous acoustic space, refined grand piano, and explosive church organ. The resulting songs have a bit of ache and a bit of old time gospel to them.

Chris Koza

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:33:35 +0000

Chris Koza is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based singer/songwriter, and has released three albums since 2004 — “Exit Pesce,” “Patterns,” and “A Friend of a Friend” (EP). Music critics have compared Chris’ sound to Wilco, Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Beck, and Ryan Adams, among others. He performs live with a band, which includes anywhere from 2-7 members.

Deep into autumn of 2004 Chris released his debut album “Exit Pesce” in an apartment. But it wasn’t until early the following year when a little blurb by Rob van Alstyne of the Pulse Magazine was printed before anyone really took notice of the album, calling Exit Pesce “An under-the-radar-music-stunner-phenomenon”

In April 2006, Chris released “Patterns,” which went on to receive more acclaim, including a Minnesota Music Award for Best Pop Recording (Chris also won the Best Male Vocalist award).

At the end of 2006, Patterns was kindly included in some local best-of lists, coming in at 10 in the Star Tribune’s annual Twin Cities Critics Tally, and at 1 in Chris Riemenschneider’s (Star Tribune Music Critic) top ten local albums list.

In April of 2010, he started his next adventure: transforming the Chris Koza band into Rogue Valley. This magical transformation occurred on the stage of the Historic Fitzgerald Theater.

Listen to an audio preview/interview with Chris:

And now you can hear live recordings of Song of the Earth Mass:

Song of the Earth Mass

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:25:17 +0000

In May 2010, Chris Koza is debuting his Song of the Earth Mass. As Minnesota Monthly described it (in a much appreciated shout-out): “Every Sunday in May, Koza will take over Mercy Seat Lutheran in Northeast Minneapolis as the church’s latest composer-in-residence, reworking the Lutheran liturgy into a folk/pop arrangement he’s calling the “Song of the Earth Mass,” promising ‘occasionally mysterious chord progressions and ever-present vocal harmonies.’” For a preview and an interview with Chris, listen below.

To hear a live recording of Song of the Earth Mass: