Hospitality in Music: An Interview with Lowland Hum

This week on the podcast, Dan is joined by Lauren and Daniel Goans of the band Lowland Hum, whose music you can now hear at the beginning and end of each episode. The husband-and-wife duo formed the band while they were engaged six years ago, and have now been touring and releasing albums consistently for the past six years. Here they talk with Dan about embarking on a shared project that parallels their relationship, and about the ways that creating something together changed how they approached their work and art.

Daniel: “What we’re offering is ourselves, and that makes people feel free to bring their own sort of fullness to the moment.”

Dan unashamedly describes himself as a “fanboy” of Lowland Hum, and it quickly becomes clear that his connection to their music is about more than pretty melodies (though those certainly don’t hurt). To Dan, the music Daniel and Lauren create is heard as an invitation into a space that is both holy and human, beautiful and broken. And that is an invitation to the Gospel.

Dan: “Every good story is ultimately about the Gospel. And every good song opens the heart to what we are meant to find in complete fullness in the presence of Jesus.”

Daniel: “God is kind enough to use the wounds that we both have, and even our fatigue, to help people know what He is like.”

Lauren and Daniel reflect on the hospitality and vulnerability they strive for in their life and their music, and Dan commends that as an alternative to the Christian art and media that can often come across as hostile and presumptuous. They’re just scratching the surface—Lowland Hum will return next week to continue this conversation. In the meantime, Dan recommends spending some quality time with their music; he suggests starting with the song “How Long” and their appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, which you can view below.

We would also like to thank Seattle School alumnus Robert Deeble (MA in Counseling Psychology, 2006) whose song “Heart Like Feathers” set the tone for this podcast since we launched in 2014.