The Autumn Film giving away their music during March 2013

The Autumn Film is giving away their music for the month of March, along with the Hymns albums from another of their musical projects. If you haven't heard them before, you have no excuse now, so get to downloading. If you are familiar with them, I guess you are as excited as I am.  :) I already own all but one of The Autumn Film albums that are free for download, so I am downloading that and the Page CXVI stuff, which I was not familiar with before this announcement. What I have heard so far is just as good as I'd hoped it would be. Here is the official announcement from the band, and below that, I have written a short piece explaining how I discovered them and what their music has meant to me:

"After seven years of crafting music as The Autumn Film and Page CXVI, Reid Phillips, Latifah Phillips, and Dann Stockton are giving away their catalog for the entire month of March. Eleven albums, seventy-four songs, two bands. Think of it as a Jubilee. Think of it as a sweet springtime gift. Think of it as something to share with everyone you know.

Starting Friday, March 1st, all of the albums from both bands will be available to download for free at http://pagecxvi.com/jubilee, and we would love your help with spreading the word."

Note: the giveaway is from SoundCloud and the site makes you wait 5 minutes between each album download, so start with "The Ship and the Sea," then "8 Track Tape," then get everything else while you listen to those. Also, while they are giving this away to build brand recognition, I'm sure they would appreciate some donations for all this stuff if you have some cash to spare.

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Over the last few years, I realized I had managed to lose the habit of keeping up with the new music scene. Around the same time, I was introduced to thesixtyone.com, which is a great site to discover new music, especially independent bands. For a year or more, I had a pretty good habit of using that site for at least a few hours per week. It was there that I first heard The Autumn Film. The song was "Mended," and, from the first line of lyrics, I was hooked. As the song was nearing the end, I clicked the band's name to go see their library of songs posted on thesixtyone. I ended up listening to all of them several times through before going to their site and buying "The Ship and the Sea." They had some free downloads on their site, so I got all those while I was there too.

I listened to them a lot over the course of the next few weeks, especially "The Ship and the Sea." As usually happens these days, though, I got behind on podcasts and stopped listening to music for a good long while. When I finally did find some time between podcasts, I found myself going back to The Autumn Film more than any of my other favorite music. Little did I know at the time just how important this band would be for me.

A while back, I had hit a rough patch emotionally, really struggling to get through some dark and trying times. Whenever this happens in my life, music is always my refuge. Well, this time, I had The Autumn Film waiting for me. The song "Mended" was a real lifeline for me. There was one day where I listened to that on repeat for at least half the day. And, as I sang along, the words were helping me deal with my struggles, but they also became my prayer at a time when I couldn't find the words to pray, begging God... "Don't give up on me now, this can all be mended." I really feel like that song saved me from giving in to despair at a time when I could barely see the light.

Then "8 Track Tape" and the Coldplay covers were released, and they quickly became household favorites. And again, they came to the rescue at another difficult time. When our youngest child, Rose, was born, she had a lot of issues with her stomach and digestion. She would scream a lot. Walking around lightly bouncing her helped, but never quite made her comfortable enough to settle down completely. This went on for months, and we were really getting to the end of our ropes. Finally, I decided to try playing some music to see if that would help. I tried various things I thought would be soothing, including some of the favorite albums from when the other kids were infants. They weren't working. Then I played "8 Track Tape." During the first track, it didn't seem to be having any more effect than the other music, but when "Love is an Avalanche" came on, Rose immediately started to calm down. By the end of the song, she had stopped crying. By the end of the track after that, she was almost asleep. I thought nothing of it at the time, but the next day, it worked again. The day after that, it worked again... and it kept working. Apparently, Rose's favorite song was "Love is an Avalanche." The funny part is that it is upbeat and fun, not soothing and calming. But it kept working, and it became a priceless jewel in our lives at the time, because we finally had a way to calm her down.

For these two songs, I am forever indebted to the members of The Autumn Film. I hope to be able to see them live someday soon so I can thank them in person. I have always appreciated music where you can feel the emotion being poured into it by the artists, and this music was clearly a work of love for them. I am grateful to have discovered it. It has been a great reminder to me of the power and value of good music... at a time in my life where it is easy to just get caught up in the emotionless world of technology work and forget that there is more to life than logic.

So, do yourself a favor and check them out. I can't promise you will love them as much as I do because every soul resonates to a different tune, but I do know that if you do end up loving them as much as I do, that will mean we are kindred spirits.  :)  They have earned a place in my very short list of musicians that I always keep tabs on to see what they are up to, when they have new music, and where they will be playing live... alongside Jars of Clay, Marc Cohn, and Mike Oldfield. Not bad company for an independent band.

And, Reid, Latifah, and Dann... if you happen to read this... thanks for baring your souls through music. You have a great gift, and you never know who will be touched by your work. Keep up the good work as long as you can, and may God bless all your endeavors.

Peace,
Todd Russell
March 2, 2013, 3:40am (yes, helping them spread the word meant enough to me to stay up this crazy late)