---
title: "Laurence Baer Adds \"Effortlessly\" to Across Light on October 2"
description: Gospel jazz track Effortlessly is the third chapter of Laurence Baer's 21-song Across Light, with an advance SoundCloud listen before the October 2 release.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-09-29T17:41:39.580Z
updated: 2026-09-29T20:24:07.939Z
canonical: https://richdadmagazine.com/article/laurence-baer-effortlessly-across-light
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/laurence-baer-across-light-cover-hero.webp
categories: Music
content_type: Spotlight
region: Maryland
publication: Rich Dad Magazine
about:
  - type: Person
    name: Laurence Baer
    description: "Laurence Baer is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, composer and author from Ellicott City, Maryland, whose work moves between indie-pop crossover, acoustic soul ballads and traditional gospel choir anthems. His master catalog, Across Light, is a 21-song collection released one chapter every 21 days since August 2026. He is the founder of Peace Stars, a nonprofit music competition aimed at ending historical conflicts, and of the GodToU daily gratitude podcast. His song \"White Pass Railroad\" was covered by the Del McCoury Band on Family Circle, nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011."
    url: https://www.laurencebaer.com
    jobTitle: Songwriter
    worksFor: Laurence Baer Music
    sameAs:
      - https://www.youtube.com/@GODTOULLC/shorts
---

Laurence Baer releases "Effortlessly" on October 2, the third chapter of Across Light, and readers can hear it before then. The Grammy-nominated songwriter has put an [advance stream on SoundCloud](https://on.soundcloud.com/BnjWgB0HZYcz5aYSzM), ahead of the track joining the collection's playlist on release day.

Every song from the project that has already been released is on [the Across Light singles page on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qzaBu1i7xnug8y5Vu6CxA/discography/single), where "Effortlessly" joins them on October 2.

Like what you hear? [Pre-save the whole of Across Light for free](https://ffm.to/acrosslightvip!nmh) on your streaming platform of choice and each new chapter arrives automatically as it is released.

The song takes its title from the state athletes describe when everything comes easily and nothing feels forced. Baer applies it to ordinary days rather than the field.

> "When we're aligned with God and our purpose, life totally flows. That's the feeling I wanted to capture in this song, exhilaration and freedom."
> — Laurence Baer

"Effortlessly" is arranged as gospel jazz, with a high-energy female lead vocal over a tight horn section. The closest points of comparison are Mary Mary, Natalie Cole and Jill Scott, music that carries a church sensibility into a secular room without losing either one.

## AI Synthesis in the Making of the Master Recording

The master recording started as Baer's own copyrighted composition. He then used AI synthesis tools to realize its multi-part harmonies and the arrangement around them, a step that would traditionally have required a session choir, a horn section and the studio hours to record both.

Baer is unusually open about this at a moment when most artists either avoid the subject or find themselves answering for it. The distinction he is drawing is between a machine writing a song and a machine performing one that a person wrote. The composition, the melody and the lyric are his and registered as his. What the software supplied is the voicing.

That approach is what has made a release schedule like Across Light possible for an independent artist. Twenty-one songs, each produced to a finished standard, would ordinarily mean years of studio bookings and a budget most songwriters at this level do not have.

## The 21-Day Release Cycle Behind Across Light

Across Light is built on five pillars: faith, family, healing, celebrating life, and mankind's return to God. A new chapter arrives every 21 days rather than the whole collection landing at once.

It opened on August 21 with "This Holy Ground", written in support of America's 250th anniversary and pitched as an answer to civil division, with acoustic roots under gospel-pop choral singing. "Baby's Baby Bump" followed on September 11, co-written with Darren Holden of the Irish group The High Kings, on the protective joy an expectant father feels, which is a subject contemporary music rarely touches. That chapter was [covered here on its release](https://richdadmagazine.com/article/laurence-baer-across-light-babys-baby-bump).

Both tracks are on streaming services now.

## Daryl Davis Co-Produces the Next Chapter

The fourth chapter, "I've Been Blessed", arrives on October 23, co-produced by Daryl Davis. Davis is the blues and boogie-woogie pianist who spent more than 30 years playing with Chuck Berry, and who is better known outside music for the decades he has spent befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan. Around 200 of them left the group over that time and handed him their robes.

Davis and Baer are working from the same premise about music reaching people that argument does not. It runs through Baer's other projects too, including Peace Stars, his nonprofit music competition aimed at long-running conflicts, and GodToU, his 30-second daily gratitude podcast.

## About Laurence Baer

Laurence Baer is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, seasoned composer and author whose music stands at the intersection of intellectual depth, traditional gospel reverence and timeless theatrical swing. His work spans decades of storytelling through melody, weaving personal heritage with global themes. Grounded in a belief in music's power to bridge divides, his master catalog, Across Light, moves between upbeat indie-pop crossover tracks exploring quantum physics, intimate acoustic soul ballads and soaring traditional gospel choir anthems. A dedicated advocate for international healing and cultural renewal, Baer has channeled his creative platform into global peace and media initiatives, including foundational work with [Peace Stars](https://peacestars.tv), a nonprofit music competition to help end historical conflicts, and the [GodToU](https://godtou.com) 30-second daily gratitude podcast.

Baer's earlier albums are Across A Bering Strait Bridge (2007), Across Time (2015) and Across Love (2018). His song "White Pass Railroad" was covered by the Del McCoury Band on Family Circle, nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.

## Hear Across Light and Pre-Save the Collection

"Effortlessly" is on [SoundCloud](https://on.soundcloud.com/BnjWgB0HZYcz5aYSzM) free until it reaches streaming services on October 2. Every chapter released so far is on [the Across Light singles page on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qzaBu1i7xnug8y5Vu6CxA/discography/single), along with the canvases that go with them.

Like what you hear? [Pre-save Across Light for free](https://ffm.to/acrosslightvip!nmh) and each new chapter lands on your streaming platform the day it is released.

**About Laurence Baer**
Songwriter, Laurence Baer Music

Laurence Baer is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, composer and author from Ellicott City, Maryland, whose work moves between indie-pop crossover, acoustic soul ballads and traditional gospel choir anthems. His master catalog, Across Light, is a 21-song collection released one chapter every 21 days since August 2026. He is the founder of Peace Stars, a nonprofit music competition aimed at ending historical conflicts, and of the GodToU daily gratitude podcast. His song "White Pass Railroad" was covered by the Del McCoury Band on Family Circle, nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.

[Website](https://www.laurencebaer.com)

## FAQ

**Q: When is "Effortlessly" released?**
October 2, 2026, when it joins the Across Light playlist on streaming services. Baer has made an advance stream available free on SoundCloud before that date.

**Q: What is gospel jazz?**
Jazz harmony, instrumentation and improvisation applied to gospel material and singing. On "Effortlessly" that means a horn section and a jazz arrangement under a lead vocal that comes out of the gospel tradition.

**Q: How was AI used in making the track?**
The composition is Baer's own and copyrighted to him. AI synthesis tools were used to realize the multi-part harmonies and the arrangement built on them, rather than to write the song.

**Q: What is Across Light?**
A 21-song collection released one chapter at a time, every 21 days, beginning on August 21, 2026 with "This Holy Ground". It is organized around faith, family, healing, celebrating life, and mankind's return to God.