Ariel Simone

By Bevan Lindsay

Every so often you stumble across a 'remarkable album. Something musically mature, comfortably familiar, yet as fresh as the first coffee of the day. Love Will Catch You is all of that and then some. Ariel Simone's stunning vocals and husband Nathan Lauridsen's musical mastery come together in this all-Kiwi, folk, blues and jazz offering. Highlights include the powerful 'Lack of Intensity', the funky 'Don't Let the Devil Get you Down' and the heart warming 'Finally'. You could be forgiven for thinking this talent is much older than 22. If you're a fan of Nora Jones, Brooke Fraser or Adele, you'll be right at home with Ariel.

- The War Cry - Salvation Army

LOVE WILL CATCH YOU - by Ariel Lauridsen



'Love Will Catch You’ is the title of our recently released album. Consisting of eleven original songs ‘Love Will Catch You’ expresses what God has done, and is doing, in my life. It captures something of my very human response as the love of God collides with who I am. It is an expression of self that reveals my array of emotions as I have walked and sometimes crawled this journey with Him. Maybe this is why the album has an eclectic mix of genres, somewhere in the mix of Jazz – Blues – Folk probably describes it the best.



The title of the album 'Love Will Catch You' portrays the notion that love is scary, that it requires risk, and that we can't always see what's at the bottom of the cliff when we choose to take a step of faith, to trust in God’s love, be it the first or the hundredth time. The album cover is intentionally designed to look a bit ‘spooky’. The haunted looking art follows the theme of a love that can sometimes look scary and require us to take risks.



This ‘take’ on love has been my experience. It has often felt like God has led me to let go of things or leave stuff behind in order to move forward in all that he has for me. Each song on the album reflects one of those risks I've taken as I've blindly stepped off the cliff into a seemingly bottomless pit. However, the songs don't just express the risk and struggle, that's just the human bit, they also tell the rest of the story, the story of God’s trustworthy love, and how He has always been there to catch me at the bottom and to set me back on my feet.



When I speak of the 'love', in 'Love Will Catch You', I risk sounding cliché and far too general. I hope an image of a big glowing love heart doesn't come to mind! In my story God’s love means different things at different times, and these songs I crafted (with the help of my freakishly talented husband) portray a love that is risky, and they share my story of how I learned to trust that my creator would come through for me, that as I stepped out He would slip something solid in front of me for my foot to fall on.



This risky love has required me to do things that seem scary, hence the symbolism of jumping off a cliff. Saying goodbye to a very close friend, getting married (I was totally prepared to follow in mother Teresa's footsteps), and allowing God to strip me of my identity of pain in order to give me a new one, are examples of ‘stepping off the edge’. The ultimate ‘step off the cliff’ was of coarse the initial decision to begin the journey with God despite my doubts and fears, and to trust that he would be there to meet me where I'm at and carry me through the hard stuff. The songs on the album tell my story by honestly expressing my emotions as He has led me to step out and put my trust in Him.



‘Love Will Catch You’ exists because I want other people to see what God is like through my story. Of coarse there's the musical side too, Nathan (my husband) and I love being creative and expressing ourselves through music and art, but this would be pretty meaningless without the story of God’s loving interaction with us. That is what is behind the music and the desire to share with others. Music is a brilliant way to communicate and express emotions, thoughts, and what we’re learning on this journey with God. We want people to see that even though God’s love may look scary, as they take that step off the cliff, letting go of all that feels secure, God will be there to catch them.



As Cliché as this may sound, my relationship with God was essential in this project. Time with Him has been the inspiration for every song idea. If I float along the surface and never deeply engage with God my story can go on without me and I become blind to what He is doing in my heart and my life. I can't emphasise this enough. I cannot write songs if I'm not engaging with God, they just don't come. Maybe its because there is nothing else meaningful enough to get me inspired. I'm not just talking about good times with God. More often than not it's the scary times, when I can't see Him or He feels far away, that songs are formed. In these moments my engagement with Him becomes a questioning cry. In the good or the bad, this relationship is the basis for all my creativity, and it was an absolute essential ingredient in the making of ‘Love Will Catch You’.



Of coarse we couldn't have done this without the talent required to do it, not just of my own, or Nathan’s, but also the talent of other amazing musicians and artists (and everything in between) who have generously given their time, energy, and talent for the sake of this album and for God’s glory and purposes. Family and friends have supported us and prayed for us throughout the whole process and we've seen people get involved just because they're passionate about the whole story behind the album. It's an amazing thing when people who are unified by one purpose come together and help make things happen! This album has definitely been a team effort and we couldn't have done it otherwise. - Gateway Magazine July 2012

Have you ever felt like you were stepping off a cliff? Not an actual cliff; a metaphorical one.
Have you ever taken a leap of faith not knowing what would happen next, and when you simply had to close your eyes, grit your teeth and trust that something or someone would catch you?
Stepping off cliffs is the idea behind 22-year-old Ariel Simone’s latest recording. ‘God has required me to take this step off the cliff many times,’ she says, ‘and as I’ve taken that step into complete blackness, God’s caught me at the bottom and has had something for me.’
In the songs on Love Will Catch You, Ariel tells the story of how she has had to completely trust God to overcome her fears and leave past things behind. ‘The whole theme of the album is that love is scary and requires us to take risks sometimes,’ she explains. ‘Each of the songs is about the risks I’ve taken to put my trust in love—I believe that God is love.’
Ariel’s story begins in Hastings, where she was born into a Christian family. From a very young age, Ariel knew that she just wanted to sing. At the age of 13, she decided to pray for a guitar. To her amazement, the next day a visiting uncle arrived with a guitar for her. In no time, Ariel had taught herself to play and she and her guitar soon became inseparable.
Ariel was 13 when she wrote her first song, entitled ‘The Secret Place’. It was about time spent with God in her tree hut. Since then, Ariel has composed many more songs, with nearly all of them coming from her conversations with God.
She says, ‘My journey with God has been the inspiration for every song idea. If I float along the surface and never deeply engage with God, my story can go on without me and I become blind to what God is doing in my heart and my life. More often that not, it’s the scary times when I can’t see God or when he feels far away that songs are formed. Either way, it’s my honest expression in this relationship that is the basis of all my creativity.’
This honesty with God was seen in Ariel’s first recording, an EP called Transcends Understanding. The EP came about after Ariel went through a time of crisis. In her mid-teens she became disengaged from school and left at the age of 16 to do a media arts degree majoring in music.
During this time Ariel found that she had big questions for God and turned to drugs and other means as a way to cope. Eventually, she dropped out of study in order to search for God again. It was in that time of searching for, and ultimately finding, God again that the songs for Transcends Understanding were written.
To record her EP, Ariel joined forces with Nathan Lauridsen. Nathan is a fifth-generation Salvationist who grew up in the Palmerton North Corps and was surrounded by music at home and at church. He and Ariel married in 2009.
Ariel’s songs kept coming. Her new CD, Love Will Catch You, carries on the story of Ariel’s conversations with God. Having reconnected with God, she now sings about moving forward with God and what that looks like in her life.
For example, ‘Shake the Dust Off Your Feet’ is about needing to leave old friends behind in order to find healing. She wrote ‘Don’t Let the Devil Get You Down’ after feeling battered and under attack from Satan. ‘Sack of Sad’ is about feeling a loss of identity, and ‘Lack of Intensity’ (Nathan’s favourite), is about discovering that God is the beauty in the suffering.
Love Will Catch You has been four years in the making. Initially, Nathan and Ariel recorded the album themselves. After the couple completed a two-year diploma from East West College of Intercultural Studies in 2011, they were unsure of what the future held next. But then Nathan was given the opportunity to work and record at The Porch, a Hamilton recording studio, where they produced the CD in its current form. Nathan and Ariel see this opportunity as evidence of God’s amazing provision and blessing.
The arrangements on ‘Love Will Catch You’ are all by Nathan, who is not only highly skilled at recording and scoring music but plays many different instruments on the album. The artwork on the album cover is by Ariel, with graphic design by brother-in-law Hayden Lauridsen.
What does the future hold for Ariel and Nathan? Well, apart from expecting the arrival of their first child in August, they’re not too sure what God has in store for them. But Nathan says, ‘We feel like God has been leading us every step of the way—so we ask to be in God’s plans, not our own.’

Listen for yourself: To purchase Ariel’s new album, go to www.arielsimonemusic.com. And don’t forget to enter our Giveaway Competition to win a free copy of Love Will Catch You. - The War Cry - Salvation Army