Amanda Danziger has become one of my more highly-anticipated recent discoveries. Single after single, she proves to be a competent songwriter with a strong gift for songwriting. She's even caught the attention of Integrity Music, who struck up a licensing deal with Danziger just in time for her current series of singles. "Refining Fire" is the third single from her upcoming Seasons EP, and is the summer song from the project.

The song is releasing in mid-August, right in the middle of the summer season. However, the song's style is (whether ironically or intentionally) almost the anti-summer jam. It's a slower tune, with a much more mellow rhythm than you'd expect from a summer theme. The song does pick up, in a sense, but instead of a growing BPM, Danziger adds layer after layer, with a huge crescendo of orchestral instrumentation around the mid-point of the song. After the big build-up and release, the song then quietly fades out with some soft piano and calls it a day (or a season, if you will), likely feeding directly into her forthcoming autumn song (which is scheduled to come alongside the release of the full EP).

While the music is more akin to the colder months of the year, the lyrics are where the summery feeling come in. As summer is generally the season of nostalgia for many, myself included, it makes sense that Danziger would make references to childhood, wanting to desire Jesus with a passion she had for lesser things as a kid ("The embers are falling thin / Jesus take hold of my sin / the passion I had as a kid / the summers I ran with the wind"). The song is quite simple, with easy-to-grasp lyricism and familiar imagery, which, for me, makes it easily relatable. It's a call to the Lord for purification: "Refine my heart, fan into flame / breathe on my life a burning desire / capture my heart, the embers within / breathe on this heart a roaring fire."

Not all of Danziger's singles have been hits for me, personally, but those misses have been few and far between. "Refining Fire" is another hit, and an indication that her Seasons EP will be one to keep my eye on and spend some time with. I'd love to get a full album from her at some point in the near future instead of a series of singles, but I've also found some enjoyment in her current output. Whatever happens, I plan to be along for the ride.

- Review date: 7/25/22, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com

 

 Record Label: Integrity Music
 Album length: 1 track: 2 minutes, 55 seconds
 Street Date: August 12, 2022

1. Refining Fire (2:55)