The Fragrance is one of those few bands that still functions the old-fashioned way: blue-collar work ethic and dedication to their music. Sophomores Joel Hasemeyer (vocals, guitars), Linzy Spann (keys, accordion, glockenspiel, vocals), Evan Eliason (bass, vocals), Andy Leong (guitar, keys, vocals), Paul Chang (drums) compose the band and juggle busy schedules with their duties as regulars in the Biola chapel band rotation.
Being a student at Biola requires adept skill and efficiency when it comes to balancing class schedules. That alone can drive any ordinary student crazy — not counting social life — but the members of The Fragrance pull it off, all while touring regularly under the Biola Youth program and playing shows for youth groups across the Southland. Somewhere amidst their chaotic schedule, they have found time to record their own EP of original songs.
Spann says it’s as a best-case-scenario situation. “We live a lot of the same lives,” she explains. “That helps because a lot of us have the same schedule.” The members had to determine early on that this band was going to be a priority and it has helped them to stay focused on pushing forward through the busyness of their schedules.
The Fragrance met while they were freshmen at Biola, three out of the five members were music majors. When they heard that chapel band auditions were starting,they “got together and started practicing,” said Leong.
Playing worship for chapel was only the beginning for The Fragrance. “We started out as a worship band and then we started writing our own music, we wrote enough songs to come out with an EP,” said sophomore vocalist and guitarist Joel Hasemeyer.
“Lift Your Heads and Rejoice!” is a selection of songs to create an environment for worship and praise. The EP is “not worship that you would sing in a church service,” said Hasemeyer.
Additionally, the album is the realization that “God has pursued us and grabbed our hearts and given us grace and mercy, and now this is just the outpour of our spirits,” said Hasemeyer.
The last song on “Lift Your Heads and Rejoice!,” called “Awake My Soul!,” sums up the concept of the record, focusing on “the idea of grace and how many times we’ve run from God, and through our own means we try to make things right, but God gives us grace,” Hasemeyer said. The track ends with the band and a choir repeating the Hebrew words for “Blessed be the Lord our God, for you’ve heard our cries for grace.”
“Lift Your Heads and Rejoice!” was recorded for free at Hasemeyer’s church with some borrowed equipment from friends. They sometimes spent “10 hours a day just writing and recording for a month straight, it was really fun,” said Spann.
Where the band wants to take their music in the future is up in the air.
“I think this EP is definitely the start of something we want to pursue,” says Hasemeyer. “We’re planning on making a full-length album, just trying to push this thing as far as we can go and just have fun doing it, while glorifying God.”
With an acoustic-tinged style and worshipful music, The Fragrance are looking forward to a bright future of leading its listeners into worship and also reaching those who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
