To give the world hope in a time of distress, a Guelph couple has produced a song for an album that debuted number one on the OneWorld Music Radio International top 100 Chart for July.
The single is on an international fundraising album called A New Beginning that aims to raise money for the international charity organization Doctors Without Borders which is currently helping people in conflict zones battle the pandemic.
The song This Too Shall Pass by is sung by Guelph resident Lindsey Gaye Walker and produced by her partner Sean Michael Paddison, who also plays the piano. The song is a collaboration with two artists in Russia, Zoltan Renaldi who plays the cello and bass and Maria Grigorieva who plays the violin and viola. Grigorieva is also seen in the video.
“Our intention is to touch those that need to hear it,” said Gaye Walker.
Their music aims to help people have greater self-awareness, optimism and ultimately, peace within themselves. Together, the couple also released an album Dare to Dream.
“Given where everybody is at these days with the pandemic, we really wanted to put out something to help people, especially people who are grieving a loss and some people who feel very alone. Maybe they don't have people they can connect with,” said Gaye Walker.
“We hope that if they heard a song like this, it would be able to touch them in a way that would make them feel like no matter how they’re feeling, no matter what they’re going through, this will pass and they’re not alone.”
The name of the song was inspired by a stone the couple came across on one of their daily walks that had a message on it that read ‘this too shall pass’ and encapsulated the message they wanted to record in the song and send out to the world to give listeners hope.
“This is our version of putting a stone out there for people,” said Paddison.
“We hope this will help to shift people's energy.”
The music video was filmed in the couple’s private studio with clips from Renaldi and Grigorieva.
Gaye Walker, a holistic life coach by profession, said a large part of her work is helping people let go of troubling thoughts in their mind so they can enter the feeling space in their hearts, something she hopes can translate into her music.
“When you have music, it bypasses the mind and it touches people on a heart level,” said Gaye Walker who is incredibly grateful for working together with a musician like Paddison.
“The music is just another way of these different mediums that touch people differently. Speaking to people verbally is very important and you have that level and then music is another level,” said Gaye Walker.
“Every time, I visualize and I hold in my heart the people that are going to hear it and I say to myself whoever most needs to hear this, I am now thinking of you in this moment and I do every single time.”
Paddison said every time he records a song, the most important part for him is to believe in what is being said so it is projected and felt by listeners.
“You can have an emotional sentence, but when you have that with chords, actually hit that emotion on a sonic level, it has twice the power,” said Paddison.
