NEW WORSHIP FRIDAY: Songs From The Soil, LEELAND, Vineyard Worship & Paul Baloche
Songs From The Soil
Songs From The Soil launched in early January as a community of British worship artists and songwriters passionate to craft songs infused with the flavour of their local context. Their second single, 'Real Thing' is a folky tune led by Kate Cooke and Marc James. Written by the latter alongside Norwegian and Danish songwriters David André Østby and Maria Lundbak Hinge in a season of global lockdown, uncertainty was permeating their creative process. The quest for a "true narrative" amid political divisions, riots, and restrictions was a worldwide obsession. 'Real Thing' is a song for the Church - God’ people – to reaffirm the greater reality of the Kingdom of God growing, always. "This song was birthed out of a longing to see the church rise from the ashes and shine bright in this world in this time again,"Marc James says. Biblically, this new release from Songs From The Soil is rooted in themes of repentance, returning and refreshing as the song combines lament and hopeful joy at once. 'Real Thing' is a rallying cry for the church. It is a song for unity, written in unity. "The reason for what we do is to build up and edify one another,"Marc concludes. The new single from Songs From The Soil is an invitation to ask ourselves some hard questions, and a simultaneous source of inspiration to live uncompromisingly in God’s eternal vision for his beloved world.
LEELAND
'Yahweh' is the new single from Texas-based band LEELAND. After introducing their upcoming album, 'City of God', with four boundary-pushing singles, they now introduce a highly congregational, anthemic, and expansive track. The song was inspired by Edwin Hatch’s 1878 hymn 'Breath Of God'. The simplicity of this sung prayer was one that LEELAND resonated with, "Though having seen and done much in the past 17 years, I still find myself coming back to Jesus and asking for His breath again and again," frontman Leeland Mooring says. 'Yahweh' follows the band’s passion for theologically charged songs and was inspired by them diving deep into the first and oldest name revealing the Lord in the Scriptures: Yahweh. The original spelling shows the words without vowels – YHWH – as a reminder of the utter holiness of our God. It also mimics breathing, the most basic need for human life, which LEELAND expound on in a worshipful call to praise the God who sustains our lives. "The very act of breathing is speaking God’s name. The beauty of that is, God breathed into creation so that we could breathe out His name," Mooring adds. LEELAND hope their new single becomes a song that inspires the Church to come to the altar again, "To that place of prayer and encounter with the same God who breathed into the dirt and said, 'it is good'," Mooring concludes. 'Yahweh' is an intricate track, making space for the Church to join their voice and God-breathed worship back unto him.
Vineyard Worship
'If You Say Go (We Wait For You)', the second single from the upcoming Vineyard Worship EP, 'Sing Together – Live from Urbana', is a statement of obedience and faith, and a corporate declaration of trust in the living God. This brand-new recording of a Vineyard favorite features a fresh new bridge that focuses our attention on the Lord as we choose to follow Him. Recorded live with the congregation at the Vineyard Church of Central Illinois in Urbana, 'If You Say Go (We Wait For You)'features Vineyard worship leader, Alexandria Faison ('I Speak Jesus', 'Kyrie Eleison'). Look for the full 'Sing Together – Live from Urbana EP' releasing March 10th.