Debut album hits joyous note for duo

Catholic artists Andrew Ferguson and Sophie Salopek draw upon their vocal skills and prayer experiences to usher listeners into a candid encounter with God.

The two recently returned to Christ the King Center and Student Center in Baton Rouge, where they attended Mass while studying at LSU,  to celebrate the release of their first album “Honest.”

Ferguson and Salopek, also known as The Dwell, were involved at CTK in many different ways, including leading worship for campus events, when they came into contact with people from The Vigil Project. The Vigil Project is a community of musical artists formed in 2016 with a common mission to make Catholic music for Catholic prayer.

“(The Vigil Project) started coming around to give Catholic student musicians formation retreats for musicians. I thought ‘This is the coolest thing ever,’ ” said Ferguson.

He and Salopek developed a relationship with Vigil Project founder Greg Boudreaux and some of the project’s team members.

“Greg started coming out to some of these events we were doing and approached us at different times and said, ‘Hey, I think you guys have a real gift and calling and capacity to do this in a more professional or full-time sense,’ ” said Ferguson.

“Initially I said, ‘This is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Absolutely no way.’ And it became apparent over time as the Lord continued to reveal the call to me; that this is exactly what he had for me, where he wanted me to be. And things fell into place.”

Since their involvement with the Vigil Project, Salopek and Ferguson released their first album, “Honest,” as part of the Dwell on May 5. They celebrated with a release concert at Christ the King activity center.

The key features of the album are Ferguson’s and Salopek’s rich vocals.

“When we were writing the album, we weren’t actually intending to release it, so it’s very personal to our own separate prayer lives in different ways. Through different experiences we were inspired to release it, and we prayerfully decided to share this with everyone,” said Salopek.

And through the different prayer life and faith journey experiences featured in the album, people can find that it relates to their own, she added.

“Honest” is a worship album, yet not a worship album, according to Ferguson.

“Our faith as well as our relationship with the Lord doesn’t leave us when we walk out the doors of the church,” Ferguson said. “It follows us into different moments. It follows in our jobs, it follows us into the bar when we meet our friends, it follows us to all these places and ‘Honest’ recognizes that.”

When considering the venue for releasing the album, Christ the King was chosen because the prayer experiences featured in their album occurred during their college years.

“A lot of that time was spent at Christ the King with those people and in the church. It was also a big part of our own musician formation and being built up and improving as musicians,” Salopek said.

Speaking about the concert Ferguson said, “That was so special to get up on that stage and then look out at a room full of people that had in some way throughout those two years, and really longer, who had been with us through the whole journey.

“Over the past five years, I have spent countless hours in that activity center playing ping pong with friends, studying and panicking for a test and praying. So much life happened in that particular place,” said Ferguson.

He and Salopek plan to “hit the road” in the fall and perform at universities and Newman Centers.

“The key parts of the albums and the tour is structured so that the show starts in a really fun and energetic way and exciting musically,” said Ferguson. “Then it tapers down to the point where we actually take note about the things we are saying and why.

“And from that point, the audience has already been struck, has been touched by that transcendental beauty. That’s why I think music is so special because of the way it exemplifies beauty. And beauty, unlike any other transcendentals, sneaks past you and a lot of those guards I think many put up.”

A lot of people have their own idea of what truth is, so it’s easy to take a stance against goodness, Ferguson stated.

“A lot of people have been wronged before, and so it’s sometimes hard to trust what is goodness,” said Ferguson. “Beauty sneaks past those things because it doesn’t need to be explained. It is its own end.

“By that point of the show (slower tempo) we’ve already touched their hearts through music and when we talk together, pray together and sing together (we think about) why are we doing this? What are we saying? It becomes clear that our Lord is trying to pursue us through the ability to sing a song with one another through the relationships that are there in the room.

“Once we realize that it really draws us up to him.”

And from that point Salopek and Ferguson take it back upwards to that exciting, fun, energetic place.

“But it has a completely new perspective at that point because we realized where that joy comes from. It comes from Jesus giving us a piece of himself. And I think that’s exactly what we want,” Ferguson emphasized.

Knowing from his own college experiences and those of his friends, Ferguson said many people don’t understand that there’s joy in a relationship with Christ in all moments, not just those in within the doors of the church.

The album’s title was written in recognition of the joys and beauties, but sometimes the struggles of what it is to have a relationship with the Lord and pursue it.

“But at the same time it also realizes that through all of those things, through ups and downs there is only one place that is joy. It’s an honest look at ourselves our own prayer lives and an honest look at where true joy come from,” Ferguson said.

To access the music people can use the following links: Spotify: open.spotify.
com/album/5Ei8QLHERlwDtp6CIq
AvJd?si=IDE249XtQzauHOiZFErwNg

Youtube: “HONEST” – The Vigil
Project, Feat. The Dwell

Vigil Project Website (Honest): the
vigilproject.com/honest-release