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| Monday, August 28, 2006
Music > Into Our Faith by Walking On Water A Familiar JourneyWriter: Hannah Teoh Into Our Faith signalled a farewell for Walking On Water's audience before bassist Mylene Ng leaves for Australia. Hannah Teoh catches their final gig and muses on the fruit of this Christian band. NUS University Cultural Centre. Saturday, 5 August 2006, 8pm  Members of Walking On Water posing with their AV volunteers!L-R : Mylene Ng, Christine Sham, Donna Ong (AV), Dawn Fung(AV), Audrey Tang. I felt like I was in a living room - a common space for me to sit and listen to Walking On Water at their final gig before they take a two year break. Into Our Faith related their stories, characteristic of the band members' candid friendship over the past three years and unravelled our need for locally written gospel songs. These are the kind of songs that are significant messages from the band to, and about, us. When bassist Mylene Ng introduced "World Falling Apart", a song she'd written during a particularly difficult period in her life, she lightheartedly commented that the most frequently sung words - "so hard" - were also vocalist Christine's main grouse on the vocally-challenging song. At some point during the introduction, the songwriter fought back tears, biding comfort from band mates. For the audience, "World Falling Apart" was a memorable reminder of trials that we all face in this onward Christian walk. But who says the journey can't be any fun? Into Our Faith funked, jazzed, popped and crooned their way through the night. The gig alternated between electric and acoustic sets - Ruth Ling's "Long For You" was solely piano, while Christine Sham led the band on the acapella "In The Still Of The Night". Between instruments, drummer Audrey Tang traded her sticks with Ling for a drum solo while she rapped in "Walk The Talk". I thought the best surprise of the night was their upbeat "Jiao Du", when Ling rapped in Mandarin. I also recalled anecdotes of songs' origins and warm-hearted jibes, like how "Audrey's surname is Tang because she goes 'tang, tang, tang' on the cymbals!" (Ng). For me, the end of the gig was only the starting. The lack of any over the top glamour from the performers created an unusually personal concert atmosphere. Into Our Faith gave us real voices on stage sharing a significant part of their faith, one that is commonly familiar and deeply encouraging to ours.
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