When Rob Gardner heard his friend and bandmate Spencer Jones play an original song titled “So Low” on the guitar, he was drawn in by the hopeful lyrics.
As he sat there listening, he began playing the piano and adding in some chords to accompany the guitar.
It was a subtle addition, but one that drastically changed the song’s tone. As the song came to a close, the two musicians looked at each other and shared the same thought: “That’s the way it’s supposed to sound.”
That moment is an apt example of the way Cinematic Pop creates music. Gardner, who is a prolific Latter-day Saint composer known for his sacred oratorios such as “Lamb of God" and "Joseph Smith the Prophet," is also co-founder of Cinematic Pop, a group that puts a classical spin on popular songs. Having previously worked with the London Symphony Orchestra on his “Lamb of God” oratorio, Gardner reached out to the musicians about collaborating on some of Cinematic Pop’s pieces.
Gardner created an arrangement of “So Low” for orchestra and choir, and the song is one of three original pieces included on an album Cinematic Pop recently released. A music video for “So Low” was also released, featuring Jones with the London Symphony Orchestra. The two musicians reflected on the song and talked about the uplifting power of music in interviews with the Deseret News.
Writing “So Low” was a unique experience for Jones, who also has his own band called Redhill, based in Arizona.
“I always try to write songs that are personal to me in some way, and even if I’m writing about something else, I try to draw from a place that I can relate to," he said. "('So Low') was real close to home."
Jones wrote it the night before his younger sister entered a wilderness therapy program in Arizona called the Anasazi Foundation. It is a nonprofit intervention program that strives to lift troubled youths, according to its website.
“A lot of times I think that songs I’ve written have been about past experiences,” Jones said. “This (song) in particular was about an experience that was happening in that moment. I was just in a place where I didn’t know how (my sister) entering (Anasazi) was going to affect our friendship as siblings. There were a lot of questions that I had going through my mind when I wrote that.”
One of his main questions — and the driving force behind his song — was to know if people had shared similar feelings of loneliness that he was experiencing at the time. For Jones, “So Low” was an expression of his own emotions, but also a way of reaching out to others.
“It’s interesting to me (because) when I wrote it, I didn’t have a real way to get my music out to people,” he said. “A couple years (have) passed and now I have a wider reach. I’ve had people contact me saying they’ve connected with the song in a really powerful way. That question ‘Has anyone felt that way?’ wasn’t answered that first night, but it’s been answered since. It’s been really rewarding and special, and it means the world to me.”
“So Low” has now reached an even wider audience because of its inclusion on the latest Cinematic Pop album.
“I think it’s a really great song, and it was fun to be able to take it and kind of put a different spin on it so that for me, it really carried the weight of what is felt in the lyrics,” Gardner said. “That’s what’s really cool about Cinematic Pop concerts, and orchestral and choral music in general. Instead of having (a few) people on stage, you have 250 people who are all bringing their own life experiences and their own interpretations to the stage. It’s really powerful.”
For Jones, the strength of “So Low” and the power of music in general is its ability to bring people from all backgrounds together.
”When I wrote "So Low," the goal wasn’t to share this message or have this profound idea, but it was a simple idea that makes this profound connection with people,” he said. “I didn’t have a specific message in mind when I wrote it, but the song was kind of an example to me of how (music) can connect and help people.”
Gardner mentioned that although there is a tone of sadness to the song, its overall message is one of hope.
“When Spencer and I were talking about (“So Low”), he said that even a sad song can offer you hope, because in hearing it you realize that other people have been low before, or have been sad before, and so you don’t feel quite as alone,” he said. “I had never really thought about that before.”
The song has also been a personal strength to Jones, as he believes it has helped establish a greater bond with his sister.
“I’m so proud of her and happy for her now,” he said. “She’s an incredible young woman, and I think that because of the things she’s gone through and dealt with, that she’ll be able to help connect with people and reach people that she couldn’t have if she hadn’t been through those things. I think (the song) has strengthened our friendship, and that has been a blessing.”
“I really don’t think there is anything that conveys emotion the way that music does,” he added. “And in a small way, 'So Low' has shown me that.”
BYU alumnus perform original song with London Symphony Orchestra