Amanda Cook writes love songs couched in vulnerability, with hope buoyed on ascending lines of melody. For her, these tunes are about a higher love—the grace she finds in her Christian faith. She braids together the spiritual and secular threads of her home-schooled ‘90s childhood on a farm in Manitoba: church hymns and piano recitals, alongside mellow singer/songwriters like Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones. Whether in her own contemplative solo work, like the joyful but subdued “Awakening”, or in the expansive worship anthems she makes with Bethel Music, Cook uses songs to answer questions of the soul.