A Conversation With Seth Davey
To kick off the new year, here's a talk with Seth Davey speaking about his 2024 album, life experiences, future projects and more.
Hi Pal,
If you’re new here, welcome to our little corner. We’re kicking off 2025 with an interview with Seth Davey, I hope you enjoy it!
About Seth Davey: Seth Davey is a singer-songwriter born in Dallas, Texas. He was a founding member of the Christian rock band Attalus in the early 2010s. He released his sophomore solo album, Kingdom Rising in 2024 and currently lives with his wife and three children in Angier, NC.
Introduction
As someone who grew up listening to Christian rock music, I was happy to discover Seth Davey was still creating music after Attalus.
In these solo projects, the maturity and growth that comes from life’s experiences is evident. I was glad to chat with him about those things and more.
The Conversation
Q: Hi Seth, looking back on 2024, creatively and otherwise, how would you describe it and what were the key highlights?
This past year has been a year of new beginnings, of God in His mercy enabling my family to perceive the fresh work He's doing in our lives of faith. The greatest highlight was the birth of our precious little girl, Mariah Joy Davey, on July 13th.
We suffered a tragic miscarriage nearly a year before Mariah's birth and had been striving to get pregnant again, but, month by month, the Lord continued to close that door, which became a crucible of faith for my wife and I.
Sometimes a gentle breeze lands us smoothly on that Rock that is higher than us. Other times, a whirlwind of doubts and frustrations crashes us into it. But all the while, as David of old once wisely wrote in Psalm 37, "I am old, but was once young, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread; though his feet my slip, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds his hand."
Q: We’re a few months away from the release of your album, Kingdom Rising. How would you describe the response to it in your direct circle of influence and perhaps online?
The response I've received since publishing Kingdom Rising has been encouraging in many ways, but discouraging in others. After having been away from music for 8 long years — I left Attalus at 30 — I've been immensely grateful to those Attalus fans who've stuck around after all this time and reached out to me to share their excitement over the new songs.
The Lord knows I would never have finished Kingdom Rising had God not nudged me onward through the prayers and confirming notes of others. That said, the discouragement has come in my lack of any real platform. I'm so out of the loop in terms of musical connections, and I've been off social media for a decade, so having to use Instagram as my primary means of relaying updates to potential listeners has been a rosebush full of thorns — with more thorns than roses.
However, conversations like these are a direct result of that outlet, and for that I'm humbled by the way God uses even the poorest of instruments to bring about genuine fellowship.
Q: From some song titles and the tracklist arrangement, it’s obvious that Kingdom Rising is a concept album. Can you talk to me about the inspiration behind the project?
While reflecting on the Parables of Christ during the last three years of writing devotionals for a monthly magazine, the realization of God's miraculous work in the often mundane, commonplace aspects of our lives of faith, a work that, just like the mustard seed in our Lord's parable, seems invisible at times, trampled on underfoot, rooting and sprouting and spreading in spiritual ways that are too high for our human eyes and at the same time too low, awakened this album.
To speak of incarnation is to speak of the singular, most epi-central event in human history upon which all other moments hinge. Yet to speak of incarnation is also to speak symbolically of the manner in which God continues to meet us in the crevices of our common lives.
To think that the most heavenly work has always been an earthly one! That the hands holding the universe in place are calloused hands — the hands of a Sower as it were — sowing into the sin-cursed soil of our human existence a seed of redemption: Himself.
Q: Do you have a favourite song on this album? If you do, can you share the reason(s) why?
My favorite song on the album is the least-played song, 'Kingdom Rising'— the title track and the closing ballad. It's a slow build and requires patience from the listener, and isn't for everyone, but it moves my wife to tears (which is so special for me to see), and it chokes me up as well whenever I sing the final refrain: "The Sower became The Seed that all of us trampled down; but over our blasphemies a word of forgiveness resounds; yes, Love is the Giving Tree that lays down its life for all; and rises eternally, but always starts off so small."
It's one of the three songs from the album I wrote eight years ago, toward the end of my Attalus tenure, so I consider it the primary root underlying the whole orchestration.
Q: Every album/project has its unique birthing process and journey. What differentiates the production and composition process from its predecessor, Till You’re All I See?
The biggest difference between Till You're All I See and Kingdom Rising is the production motivation behind both. With Till You're All I See, I needed a detox from loud instrumentation, and I intentionally found a Yamaha Grand Piano at a nearby studio and recorded the most threadbare, minimalistic album I could, fueled by a sense of wonder that God accepts praise even when its feeble and broken and downright boring.
My heart needed those songs to juxtapose against the rock-and-roll of Attalus. But Kingdom Rising, while an extension of that desire to 'unplug' from distorted guitars, needed earthier, grittier, bigger sounds to illustrate the concept: something akin to Attalus, but with a focus on acoustic instruments rather than electric.
So I wrote violin and cello parts for the first time in my life, then used friends and session musicians to add acoustic guitar, bass, and drums, which all culminated in a piano-driven, acoustic-rock sound that my soul is finding great delight in these days.
Q: A couple of albums into the life of a solo artist, what are the striking differences between this phase of your life and your time with Attalus?
The stark difference between life now and life in Attalus is that I'm married now with three kids! During the Attalus days, writing was easy. I worked part-time and could just up and leave the office whenever I wanted to write a song on the church piano down the street. Not so now.
Usually, I'm not able to spend time at the piano until the little ones are tucked into bed and I've kissed my wife goodnight. Ah, but God is providing needed inspiration in those quiet hours between 11 pm and 1 am, and I think there's now a greater sense of satisfaction in the work because the toil is more difficult.
Q: Are there any projects on the horizon?
I'm currently working on a 5-song EP called 'Hymns in Hindsight, Chapter 1', where I've completely re-written the musical arrangements for five songs from Till You're All I See, giving them a more folky, up-beat progression. The concept behind the album is the notion that truth touches our hearts in different ways during different seasons.
For instance, on prodigal days, I may sing the words, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!" with face to the ground, in sackcloth and ash, weeping in somber conviction. Yet, in more triumphant seasons, I can sing those very same words with head held high and a smile as wide as an Iowa horizon! So I thought to myself, "Hey, wouldn't it be pretty neat to take some of those hymns I sang somberly eight years ago and give them a brighter sound to match this brighter season?" So that's what I'm currently working on!
Q: On a final note, what portion of scripture has been a source of encouragement to you lately?
I have the privilege of writing daily devotionals for a media ministry, which allows me to spend hours by myself in quiet reflection, often by the creek near my house, or in the mountains, or in the longleaf pine forest thirty minutes away, and I just finished going through the Book of Joshua.
Reflecting on the LORD's work during that unprecedented season of success in Israel's history brought so much joy and conviction to my heart. The Book opened with God twice commanding Joshua, "Be strong and courageous!", and almost to a man, minus Achan (who repented in the end), that entire generation obeyed without compromise. All, from the priests to the chiefs to the shepherds to the soldiers to the waterboys, walked faithfully with the LORD and broke bread in unity with one another.
That’s all for today. If you’re new to Seth Davey, check out the links below.
Listen to Seth Davey here:
Kingdom Rising (2024) — All Links
Till You’re All I See (2023) — All Links
Connect with Seth Davey:
Feel free to leave a comment. Also, I am always open to hearing from you so feel free to send an email to me at stismavo@gmail.com