Speak to the Night

by Kristen Mark Westwood

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

With every download, you will be emailed a set of wallpapers for your desktop and mobile that include lyrics and artwork from the song.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 CAD or more

about

I wrote this song with my wife - poet, Fran Westwood - and our good friend and collaborator Brandon Davis for a Christmas Eve service in 2019. At the time our city of Toronto was deep in its (ongoing) housing crisis during a particularly vicious winter. People were dying on our streets, while the news was full of families being separated at the US border and the politics of race were heating up all around us. We wanted to bring all of us this with us into the service - into the nativity, as it were - because where else are we to look for Immanuel, but on frozen city streets, blocked from warmth and shelter, among the homeless, the orphaned and the displaced?

It felt necessary to me to record and release this song in 2020, after the year we've all had. This is really a song for Advent - for tender, whispered hope held out against the night. It's for all of us who find ourselves breathing our secret prayers into the darkness hoping someone is listening, waiting for the light.

lyrics

God of mercy
Witness frozen city streets
Hear our queries held in lonely nights
Shepherd who walks with us
Love enfold us til our shadows break at dawn

God of love
Your heart beat new in a hidden womb
While grasses of the earth fade and fresh blooms fall
But your breath of life moves
Close and tender to heal divisions of the night

Comfort, comfort
Comfort

God of peace
Blocked from warmth and shelter
Refugee in a backward hotel garage
Mother and baby
Murmured love sounds, the sky sang back glory
The sky sang back glory to the dark

Comfort, comfort
Sons and daughters
Lift your voices
Make a way

credits

released December 4, 2020
Lyrics by Fran Westwood
Music by Kristen Mark Westwood and Brandon Davis
Produced by Brandon Davis and Kristen Mark Westwood

Vocals, piano by Kristen Mark Westwood
Bass, BGV's by Brandon Davis
Guitars by Tim Lemke

Mixed by Don Benedictson at Unity Gain Productions
Mastered by Jon Tornblom at Transparent Mastering

Cover photo by Peter de Koning

license

about

Kristen Mark Westwood Guelph, Ontario

Kristen Mark Westwood is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator and producer based in Guelph, ON.

Photography by Jen Squires, 2019.

contact / help

Contact Kristen Mark Westwood

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Kristen Mark Westwood, you may also like:

Steady Away
by Chris Brain

The latest from the UK’s Chris Brain is a gorgeously wrought album of tender acoustic folk music. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2023
go to album
they only talk about the weather
by Arny Margret

The Icelandic songwriter packs her stunning debut with sweeping melodies delivered via intimate, folky arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 12, 2023
go to album
Fool Me As Many Times As You Like
by Daudi Matsiko

featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 29, 2023
go to album
Halcyon Days
by Kevin Farge

A vibrant vision of "Central Americana" from the Costa Rica-based artist, blending heartland devotionals with playful Tropicália grooves. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 27, 2022
go to album
Bound to Rise
by Chris Brain

Rich, pastoral folk meditations on nature and healing from the UK singer-songwriter. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 27, 2022
go to album
The Faux Paws
by The Faux Paws

A fresh, constantly-evolving vision on Americana from the New York trio, weaving together bluegrass, roots music, and pop rock. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 1, 2021
go to album
How Does It Feel EP
by Lizzie Weber

Missouri singer/songwriter Lizzie Weber delivers a trio of songs lightly informed by country music, and fleshed out with strings. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 6, 2021
go to album