Judah & The Lion I Am A Prism Dualtone Records At the beating heart of Nashville band Judah & The Lion is a story of deep loyalty and chosen brotherhood, dating back to 2011 when Judah Akers and Brian Macdonald became bandmates in college. Judah & The Lion's newest and sixth album, I Am A Prism, arrived after a period of soul-searching and in the midst of a joyful new life milestone: Brian becoming a father again. The band's last three albums documented deeply personal and often heavy topics—mental health and depression (Pep Talks, 2019), heartbreak and divorce (Revival, 2022), and the stages of grief (The Process, 2024). On the other side of this trilogy of hardship and heartbreak, Judah & The Lion found themselves at a creative crossroads. They took some time off, parted ways with their management, and asked themselves some difficult but necessary questions. Judah explains: "We wanted to get really honest with ourselves about those kinds of deep internal questions. What do we bring that no one else brings? Why do we want to make another record? Not because we were thinking about quitting, but because we wanted to get back to the 'why' of when we first started making music together. We do it because we want to help people. That's the heart behind this." "We use our music to propel us through hard things in life and move us toward a more hopeful space without ignoring the really tough parts of being human, and I think that's why our fans relate to it," Brian adds. "Defining why people connect with the music we're putting out was a really important thing for us to discover before we went into making I Am A Prism." Case in point: Judah & The Lion fans will likely recognize two songs on I Am A Prism from the band's live shows last year—lead single "Maybe The Best Is Now" and the album's midpoint track, "Gravel Roads." "Maybe The Best Is Now" serves as a callback to a song from their previous album, The Process, titled "The Best Is Yet To Come." The song was introduced into their live set as an encore, with Judah teaching the chorus to audiences night after night. As fans sang along, the tape was rolling. Judah and Brian knew that when they entered the studio later that summer, they wanted to incorporate their fans' voices into the recording. The process of grounding the album in what mattered most to Judah & The Lion had begun—finding the threads that connected their beginnings to where they are today. "A lot of this record is trying to connect the thread between our beginnings and this point," Judah says. The album opener and title track, "I Am A Prism," is a powerful example. It shares thematic connections to "Open Your Eyes," the opening track from Revival. "I Am A Prism" represents not only Judah's personal transformation, but also the transformation of the album itself after the song was written. After years of writing and recording music centered on personal struggles, family hardships, grief, and loss, Judah's older brother Eli revealed that he had struggled to listen to Judah & The Lion's albums because the lyrics often made him too sad. Following that conversation, Judah sat alone at his piano and wrote "I Am A Prism." That honest and revelatory moment between brothers crystallized what the album wanted to become, who it was for, and how to get there. For the recording of I Am A Prism, Judah & The Lion teamed up with Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, and composer Jeremy Lutito as co-producer. Lutito encouraged the band to fully embrace every aspect of who they are and not hold back sonically. From folk and rock to massive pop anthems, he challenged them to be unapologetically and completely Judah & The Lion. Jeremy understood that the best way to get the most out of the band and these songs was through simplicity. Every sound on the album—from its quietest moments, like the title track, to its most explosive, like the freewheeling "Can You Relate"—was created by Judah, Brian, and Jeremy, with the support of an audio engineer. By returning to themselves, they were able to go deeper and deeper into the music. Now, after fifteen years of becoming a beloved band for hundreds of thousands of fans around the world—and sticking together through some of life's most difficult moments—Judah & The Lion are ready to share this triumphant chapter. At its thematic core, I Am A Prism is a celebration of the full spectrum of life: the darkness and the light. This message is perhaps best captured in the song "Miracle": It all comes back around—was it then or is it now? And I'm waking up I'm living in the middle of a miracle I'm seeing stars shooting through the physical I'm living in the middle of a miracle Brian shares: "That song really encapsulates the simplicity we're going for on this album. I think it's a beautiful representation of the stage of life we're both in right now. Especially with me having kids, 'miracle' is truly one of the only words you can use to describe that feeling." Judah reflects: "Life doesn't happen to you—it happens for you. If you think about the simplicity of life, we're all here breathing, we're all here for a reason. Some people think a miracle has to be some big, dramatic event. But what if a miracle is just waking up in the morning? The miracle is all of it. It's the process. And the process is perpetual. It never really ends. Life itself is a miracle." And that may be the simplest and most beautiful reminder we all need.