"The Listening" is one of the tracks that I am most proud of lyrically. It is the first time I chose to express my feelings on my faith and a time that I felt in the dark with no one to save me. I have doubted God selfishly so many times and I wish I could take back every one of those weak moments. But I am stuck with that past and all I can do is write about it and hope that fans can relate to me and hopefully see the positive message through my negative experience. This was one of the songs that we tore apart the most and changed the structure completely. But one thing that remained the same was my lyrics so I was really stoked they became the backbone of the song.
"Ryan" is my favorite track on the albums because it is the most personal to me and it also was a spontaneous process. Anissa came home from Christmas with a really rad piano part she wrote and when she showed it to me, the melody and words started flowing through me instantly. It was the first time that I actually started writing on the spot without telling her that I think it would be cool as an Eyes Set To Kill song. When she finished playing it, she turned around and asked if I liked it and then I said, "Keep playing! I thought of something!" We basically wrote the whole chorus and a verse in like 10 minutes and that was that. The song is about my guitar teacher who committed suicide and left me with the things he taught me. I wanted to write about the situation for so long but I never found the right music or sound for that type of morbid and dramatic theme. Anissa's piano part was perfect for this song and I am so proud of her and thankful in a way that she wrote the perfect match for my words.