Song Premiere: Derek Webb, “The Vow”

Updated:

August 8, 2013 2:38 pm

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Honest commitment and admitting error are not the most common, or easiest, things to find people doing, but Derek Webb tackles both on his much-anticipated upcoming album, I Was Wrong, I’m Sorry & I Love You. The album, whose title reads like the Spark Notes to any good apology and lead track like the full-length meaningful version, marks the 10th anniversary of Webb’s solo debut, She Must And Will Go Free. Reflecting on the intermittent decade, Webb considered what that album would have sounded like written today, determining many of his more personal points could be extrapolated into an entirely new collection of songs and making I Was Wrong… something of a long-awaited sequel.

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With “The Vow,” Webb writes with marked self-awareness, suggesting the complete absurdity of commitment in the face of a completely unknown future is exactly what makes it so significant.

“I’m getting to an age and station of life where i feel like I’m starting to notice the cracks in creation all around me,” says Webb, “primarily in the relationships in my immediate circle of friends. So as a protest against that brokenness, I wrote a song basically painting myself into the corner, which is essentially what marriage is. It’s promising to do things that are completely out of our power to do, considering how little any of us knows about the future. But there’s real power in making commitments in the face of uncertainty.”

Derek Webb’s I Was Wrong, I’m Sorry & I Love You is out September 3. Listen to “The Vow” now and check out the track listing below.