Eric Tuffendsam: When I started this project, I knew I had trouble with the phrase "Christian music," because it carries so much baggage, at least for me. Often it feels like "Christian" is used as an adjective for marketing, and over the years I've become skeptical of the intentions of that whole industry.

In a sense, I wanted to do something similar, but with a higher standard: the Bible as the unapologetic standard. "Indie rock" was broad enough to encompass all the styles I could imagine myself writing, and I knew "biblical" would resonate with Christians who are passionate about Scripture and unashamed of the gospel. That's my target audience. I also intentionally wanted to redeem the word "biblical" for Christians who might even feel a little uncomfortable with it. A big part of this project is encouraging Christians to be unashamed of every word in the Bible.

I've taught the Bible for many years, and more and more I just naturally think through the lens of Scripture, so writing songs from that perspective isn't something I have to force. My ministry philosophy is pretty simple: if I can get Scripture into the ears and hearts of people, God can do the work with it. That's also where the name Sower comes from. In the parable of the sower, Jesus says the seed is the word of God.

Eric: I've been thinking about this concept for many years, and Romans 8:18 is a passage I often use to comfort people who are suffering. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 expresses something similar, contrasting our "light momentary affliction" with an "eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

That contrast has become very personal for me. Several close friends and family members have died over the last few years, and I also began experiencing serious panic attacks around 2020. Between grief and anxiety, these passages have kept me grounded in reality. The suffering is real, but it's temporary, and what's coming is eternal. That tension really became the foundation for Contrast.

Eric: I started demoing "Fear" on my phone over a year ago, knowing I wanted it to feel heavy and a little eerie. The goal was to capture, both lyrically and musically, what one of my panic attacks feels like. When they happen, it can feel like the whole atmosphere changes and suddenly I'm in a horror movie with no end. They can also come out of nowhere, so I wanted the song to capture that feeling, too.

Once I had a solid demo, I sent the stems to Cameron from Descriptor, who is also part of the Sower Project collective. Collaborations are pretty easy when you've got 15 guys in a Signal chat together, lol. Cameron ended up redoing most of the guitars and bass and also sang on the chorus and bridge. I was blown away by what he added. As soon as I heard his guitar parts, they reminded me of As Cities Burn, one of my favorite Christian bands, which I loved. In the end, I contributed the songwriting, vocals, drums, and a few guitar parts, but "Fear" became a really collaborative song.

Eric: "Faith" is one of my favorite songs I've written, but I actually wrote "Doubt" and "Faith" together as one long song and then separated them. Together, they might be my favorite thing I've done.

"Faith" really captures what my personal devotional time with the Lord can feel like. When I slow down, seek Him, and open His Word, it feels like Jesus is speaking truth and encouragement directly to me. So many lies and doubts can pass through my head at any given moment that hearing the truth from the Lord is a relief to my soul. I wanted other people to experience that through the song, and from the responses I've gotten, it seems like people really relate to that internal battle. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

I'm also not a big fan of putting words into Jesus' mouth. It feels presumptuous to me, so I was very intentional about that with "Faith." Most of what Jesus says in the song comes directly from Romans 8. I took a few liberties, but I was careful to make sure everything was grounded in clear Scripture and not just a Jesus Calling kind of thing where someone is imagining words from Jesus and presenting them as if He said them.

Eric: In my experience, the sorrow can lift into joy in a moment. I can't predict my own emotions very well, so this is an expression of my experience. One particular time about a year ago, I was in deep anxiety for over a month and then at one moment, when I was walking to my car at Walgreens, the Lord reminded me of His promises as the sunlight seemingly warmed my soul. I began to weep in thankfulness for the Lord's goodness.

Eric: The plan was general at first, and as I started writing, I knew I wanted it to be either 10 or 12 songs. There were probably other ideas, but nothing else really got fleshed out.

Eric: Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how emotions are God-given, and how easy it is for Christians to neglect our emotions. We have a healthy sense of caution about being led by our emotions, but I think the easy response is often to ignore them rather than understand what God is teaching us through them.

One thing that surprised me while writing these songs was just how vividly emotional the Scriptures can be. I was reading through Jeremiah as I was writing "Fear," and I came across this verse:

"My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent…" (Jeremiah 4:19)

Most of this verse actually made it into the first verse of "Fear." It's still crazy to me that Jeremiah was afraid of actual enemies who could kill him, yet I've experienced the same fear response over imaginary threats. It turns out our flesh and our enemy, the devil, have quite the imagination.

I'm still blown away by the physical reactions that fear can cause in my body. By God's grace, I'm learning to surrender it all to Christ and embrace even these experiences as part of my sanctification.