Premiere: Dearling sparkle in the sun like ‘Silver & Gold’

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg recently spun an insightful thread on Twitter, in which she addresses the notion of theodicy, a concept handling questions of evil in the world and a benevolent God. A vital ingredient to the conversation is the tangible belief in free will of mankind, a double-edged sword of both victory and tragedy. “Each of our culpability, each of our roles, each of our actions for good or for bad are tied inextricably with the actions of our community, with all people. For better or for worse, we’re all in this together,” she wrote, at length. “It’s upon each of us, individually, to take responsibility for our role in everyone’s political, economic, environmental and social well-being…” The human existence is a complicated one, certainly, a journey wrapped in mystery and a universality that we are all navigating issues of morality, hope, love and crushing sorrow all at once.

Rachel James, of indie-folk quartet Dearling, out of Denver, came face-to-face with her own watershed moment. In observing her son process and cope with his learning disorders, she was struck by a heavenly beauty, pouring out of his soul despite odds so severely stacked against him. “Silver and Gold” was born out of innocence and a profound reminder of the inherent good that we can, in fact, recover out of the ash and lingering flames of a devastated world. “She’s just a broken-hearted, lost forgotten, widow from the war / Tried hard to love, tried hard to fight / Tried everything worth trying for,” James cries out in the darkness on the first stanza, raising questions of seemingly unanswered questions and what God has in store next, perhaps in unseen shadows and rumbling storm currents. “And she’s been waiting on angels / Asking God if He can see her in Hell / And what she would pay for someone to stay and just sit and pray.”

Even more, through their work in caring for “widows and orphans” and a resolve to”raise children to be great adults,” says James, the band quickly learned that angels do walk amongst us as blessed solutions to our problems. “There is nothing more precious or important than people helping each other. Acts of love, sacrificial love, especially, are treasures. I gravitate toward the concept of treating these acts of love like we treat silver and gold,” James explains of the song, premiering today on B-Sides & Badlands. “Seeking them out, protecting them, holding onto them. I know the treasure in these acts as I’ve watched people like my father and my husband work with my son. When he is loved and nurtured, the anxiety goes away, and he does work that others never believed he could do. I know the power and the value of love. And I know we can’t wait on God to do the work that we have before us. We are supposed to do it.”

Dearling is rounded out by such talented musicians as Dave Preston (Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake) and brothers Joel and Noah Matthews. The production of “Silver and Gold” prances in the light of pop, country and traditional folk music, gently simmering in the background, as the chorus hurtles through the sky into the cosmic outer-space. “There’s no halo, no white glow, just another human hand / No riches, no power, just another good man / Sometimes miracles are just physical. people warming up the cold, treating love like silver and gold,” James wails, upholding a new kind of god-like power igniting her fingertips.

“Silver and Gold” anchors the band’s new EP of the same name, out February 22.

Listen below:

Photo Credit: Rachel Amidei

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