Accomplished Pianist, Composer Mike Janzen Releases Eighth Solo Album, 'The End Of Myself'
Melding folk-pop, jazz and roots styles, Juno-nominated and multiple GMA Covenant Awards-winner Mike Janzen independently releases his eighth solo album, The End of Myself, today (June 4). Available at digital and streaming outlets everywhere, the innovative, 12-song recording is an all-original of folky, soulful music from this consummate pianist, composer and arranger.
Written, produced and arranged by Janzen with Phil Schawel (Jon Guerra, Patrick Mayberry) mixing three of the songs,The End of Myself explores the place where new beginnings rise from the ashes of one’s own dreams. From experience, Janzen shares how coming to the end of yourself is one of the most disorienting, difficult places to be at while mysteriously also being the place of revival.
“Back in 2016, I suffered a debilitating concussion and found myself at the very bottom, unable to work or do much of anything,” he says. “God was surprisingly present at the bottom in those years, and I slowly discovered a new path forged not from my abilities but from being loved by the Eternal.”
The End of Myself wrestles with those hard places in life. It also encourages a way of being that leaves past failures behind and enfolds into the mantle of God’s belonging.
“When writing songs, I often pick themes that challenge my assumptions and change me as I absorb the words,” shares Janzen. “In these songs, you’ll hear the tension of being an artist in the spotlight with knowing greatness is found in the unnoticed margins. There will be notes of past failures mixed with the tones of longing to love others better in my present life. The self-donating nature of God is contrasted with my self-promoting realities. These songs challenge me to value community over individualism and to redefine seemingly insignificant tasks as holy work.”
In the stand out folk/country blues single, “The Bottom of Myself,” which features the stellar, soulful guitar of Joey Landreth, Janzen sings about the valleys in life and how faith is present at the bottom of ourselves.
“This transformation from death to life is at times painful,” realizes Janzen, “but I hope that the seed of the kingdom is growing deep in my life and producing fruit that blesses the world around me.”
In the song “Unless a Kernel of Wheat,” Janzen sings His throne is in the dying, and this juxtaposition is the root from which much of this album blossoms. “Three Times” offers restoration from the shame of our failings while “Make My Life Great” speaks to a new way of being where the flourishing of others outshines the spotlight of our ego. “Firestorm” shares how dying to self can be both invigorating and excruciating. “Love You Like That” offers a hopeful prayer that inward storms would transform struggle into unexplained beauty as the closing track, “Bells of the Carillon,” contains an invitation to travel the path that begins with an ending but ends with a resurrected beginning.
