Experience this new EP by Natalie Perkins!
What is this EP?
Songs of Your Truth is an EP that uses, as lyrics, odes from a collection of early Christian
worship material called the Odes of Solomon. Though exact historical dating is unclear, most
religion scholars believe it was written somewhere around the 1st or 2nd century CE, around the
same time as the other books in the New Testament of the Bible.
This album started as a class presentation by Natalie Renee Perkins for Dr. Hal Taussig’s class,
“Loosening Canon”, at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York in the fall of 2014.
The book, A New New Testament, was used for translation with some artistic shifts. Some of the
odes are used in their entirety, some are not. Each song is a different genre to represent the
theory that these odes would have originated from a variety of communities and then brought
together in the collection.
Ode 5
by N. Perkins and M. Roger Holland
Lord, I profess you
Because I love you
Most High, do not abandon me,
Because you are my hope.
I freely received your kindness,
May I be kept alive by it.
My tormentors will come; do not let them
see me.
Let a cloud of darkness fall over their
eyes,
And a vapor of dark mist eclipse them.
And let there be no light for them, by which
they might see
So that they will not seize me.
Let their mind become swollen,
And let whatever they have devised
return upon their heads.
Truly they have devised a judgment,
But it was not for them to do.
They prepared themselves wickedly,
And they were found empty.
Indeed my hope is upon the Lord,
I will not fear
Because the Lord is my redemption,
I will not fear,
He is a crown upon my head,
I will not be moved.
If everything else should be shaken,
I will stand.
If what’s visible should perish,
I will not die,
Because the Lord is with me,
And I am with him.
Happy Are The Ministers (Ode 6)
composed by N. Perkins and L. Thomson
As the wind passes through the lyre,
The strings speak,
So also the spirit of the Lord speaks through my
members,
And I speak through his love.
For he ruins whatever is rejected,
Yet everything is of the Lord.
Indeed it was so from the beginning,
And [will be] until the end.
So that nothing will be hostile,
And nothing will rise up against him.
The Lord increased his knowledge
He was eager that those things which have
been given to us through his kindness be known.
And he gave his glory to us, on account of his
name.
Our spirits praise his holy Spirit.
For a stream went out, and became river, great
and broad.
Truly it flooded everything, broke it up, and
brought it to the Temple.
Neither were the impediments of humanity able to
dam it,
Nor the skills of those who usually restrain
waters.
For it came over the whole far of the earth,
And filled everything.
All of the thirsty ones upon the earth drank,
And the thirst was diminished and quenched.
The drink was given from the Most High
Therefore, happy are the ministers of that
drink
Those who have been trusted with his
waters.
They revived dry lips,
And raised the broken will.
And the lives that were near passing away,
They held back from death.
And the members that have fallen,
They have set right and sustained.
They gave strength to their coming,
And light for their eyes,
They were recognized by all in the Lord,
In the living flood of eternity.
Halleluiah
Open Your Hearts (Ode 8:1-8)
composed by N. Perkins, R. Holland, G. Gordon
Halleluiah (Ode 13)
composed by N. Perkins and L. Thomson
Songs of Your Truth EP liner notes
Open; open your hearts to the dancing joy
of the Lord
And let your love abound from heart to
lips:
In order to bring forth fruits for the Lord, a
holy life,
And to speak with attention in his light.
Stand and be restored,
All you who were once flattened.
Speak, you were silent,
Your mouth has been opened.
From now on be lifted up, you who were
destroyed
Since your justice has been raised.
For the Right Hand of the Lord is with you
all,
And she will be a help for you.
Peace was prepared for you,
Before what may be your war.
Look! The Lord God is our mirror,
Open your eyes and see God in them.
Learn the manner of your faces,
And announce to the Spirit, praises.
Wipe the dirt from your faces.
Love the Lord’s holiness and put it on.
Then you will not, at any time, be
blemished in front of God.
Halleluiah
Teach Me The Songs of Your Truth (Ode 14)
composed by N. Perkins and L. Thomson
As the eyes of a child upon its father,
So are my eyes, Lord, toward you at all times,
Because my breasts and my pleasure are with
you.
Lord, do not withdraw your mercies from me,
And do not snatch away your sweetness from
me.
My Lord, extend your Right Hand to me always,
And be a caretaker for me until the end,
according to your desire.
Let me be beautiful before you, because I have
praised you;
Because of your name, let me be freed from
the Evil One.
And Lord, let your serenity remain with me,
Along with the fruits of your love.
Teach me the songs of your truth,
So that I may produce fruits in you.
And open the lyre of your holy Spirit to me,
So that I may proclaim you in every note.
According to the multitude of your mercies,
Grant such to me, and hurry to grant
our requests.
For you are able to do all things that we
need.
Halleluiah
I Stretched Out My Hands (Ode 28)
composed by N. Perkins and R. Holland, G. Gordon
I stretched out my hands
And sanctified my Lord,
The extension of my hands
Is his sign
And my stretching
Is the cross that is raised up.
Halleluiah
Bonus Track
We Are In God: a Meditation
Lyrics by H. Taussig (inspired by John
14:20); composed by N. Perkins
I am in you and you are in me and we are
in God.
Songs of Your Truth EP liner notes
Songs and lyric shifts by Natalie Renee Perkins
Recorded with Lorenzo Wolff at Restoration Sound Studio in Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Blackler Mastering in Brooklyn, NY
Ode 5 Singers: Natalie Renee, LaDonna Burns, Onyie Nwachukwu
Ode 6 Singers: Erica Lustig, Vincent Ortega, Larissa Klinger (reader)
Ode 8 and 27 Singers: LaDonna Burns, John Del Cueto, Onyie Nwachukwu, Vincent Ortega,
DeForest Rafael, Natalie Renee
Ode 13 Singers: Vincent Ortega, Erica Lustig, John Del Cueto
Ode 14 Singers: Erica Lustig, Nora Thomson, Larissa Klinger (reader)
Meditation: Natalie Renee
Band: Jim Davis (keys), Jon Epcar (drums), Simon Kafka (guitar), Kris Rogers (bass)
Carol Cole (additional percussion), Emily Holden (violin), Alan Markley (synth), Matt Musselman
(sax), Ryan Weisheit (horns)
Cover artwork: Minoritees.com
Special thanks to Elizabeth Miraglia for the english translation of the Odes of Solomon in the
book A New New Testament, edited by Dr. Hal Taussig.
Additional special thanks to Hal Taussig, Tanho Center, Westar Institute, M. Roger Holland,
Logan Thomson, Gabriel Gordon, and an anonymous donor.
