Crates Laid Straight by alert312 & eb83
“Crates Laid Straight to Heaven’s Gate” was one of those songs that was just easy.
It was easy all the way around. And it’s a really great example of what this eB83 batch of music is all about. A simple 4 bar loop and 16 bars of raps.
But the makings of the elements of these songs arrived from opposite sides of the spectrum. The music was made recently, but the raps came from the past.
This song was actually written for our previous album, The Lord is Beauty.
It was originally penned as a verse for the opening track, Finding beauty. But as production for the song progressed, we found that the verse wasn’t necessary, it cluttered and clouded the message of the song. The verse was good, but wasn’t needed.
So back to the notebook the verse went and collected dust for well over a year or so.
Penned Purgatory.
And in purgatory it stayed until the day Esteban heard this loop.
And the verse fit, like a hand in a glove. You can hear some bars tweaked and tightened, some phrases made more clear and succinct, but the track was done in one sitting, and the verse was laid in one sitting - nothing else was needed. Everything fit right out of the gate.
And ideally, that’s how we would want most creative processes to go, easy. And if we’re being honest, that’s how we really would like the days of our lives to be as well, easy. But we know that’s not the truth. Most creative efforts are never easy and we know some days are much harder than others. And some of those themes are touched upon in Esteban's verse.
“Swimming through life‘s seas finding that it’s all vacant,
trekking the map deep seas to the skyscrapers,
city corners, food and liquor,
searching through the human litter.
I’m treasure hunting…”
The search for the most supremely beautiful and valuable thing can be hard with all of what life can throw at you. And on any given day we can be told, shown, and marketed what we should believe is most beautiful and valuable. And on any given day we can believe that these things, people, practices and possessions are what is most valuable and beautiful.
But God’s Word, the Bible, clearly shows us what is most valuable and beautiful.
It’s Jesus.
He is The Treasure in the field.
He is The Pearl of great price.
He is Our Beloved.
And it is there, with Jesus, that our treasure hunt ends.
Esteban writes at the end of his Crates verse:
“All my longing for love found in Immanuel.”
In Jesus there is no need to search or hope in anything or anyone else.
We can dive the depths of his love, daily discovering new dimensions of his beauty. Exploring the expanses of his goodness. For the rest of our days we can enjoy the pleasures of His presence. What a relief! Our tireless hunt can end here. We don’t have to search anymore, try anymore, or hope anymore in that person, place or thing to satisfy and fill us.. We have found it! We have Jesus.
I’m glad that this verse found a home.
I’m glad that through this :90 loosie of a song we are able to point to Jesus, our treasure.
