Rend Collective to Release New Album, "The Art of Celebration" March 17; Tour with Kari Jobe Spring 2014

Irish worship musicians Rend Collective is set to release their fourth highly anticipated studio album, The Art of Celebration March 17. The Dove Award-nominated group cites the realization that joy is the fruit of the spirit. They want their new record to reflect that theological breakthrough.

"This record is an attempt to reflect something of the irrepressible laughter in the heart of God," says Rend Collective band leader Gareth Gilkeson. "It's a call to the cynical to once again choose celebration over condemnation and a reminder to the broken that 'the joy of the Lord is our strength."

"It's no accident that the opening line of the whole record (from the appropriately titled song, 'Joy') is 'We're choosing celebration,'" continues Gareth.  "Celebration, the practice of joy, is a choice. That doesn't mean it's always an easy choice to make. We know that we inevitably must navigate storms of sorrow and shadows, disappointment and doubt in this life."

The lead single from Art of Celebration, "My Lighthouse," compares God's brightness and hope to a lighthouse guiding ships in a tumultuous ocean. Not only is the song spreading the message but it's also gaining a lot of steam on Christian radio. The video for "My Lighthouse" is set to premiere next week. The single will be available as an "instant grat track" download via iTunes beginning February 18 with each pre-order of the new album.

Having fun and spreading joy also played a big part in how the band decided on the sound of the new record.

"Our process was to just pick out the instruments that seemed like fun to us and let the genre definition work itself out," says Rend Collective member Chris Llewellyn. "We use an arsenal of the weird, wonderful, whimsical music toys, our native Irish folk instruments, some good old-fashioned rock' n' roll guitars, and even some synth-pop inspired elements. And it goes without saying that Gareth once again wields that awesome, homemade weapon of mass celebration we know only as 'the Jingling Johnny.'"

The band will resume the Campfire tour with several more concerts in February. Once that wraps the Rend Collective will begin a major, 24-city U.S. tour with Kari Jobe, which begins February 27 through April 13. Following the tour with Jobe, Rend will bring the tour back home to Ireland with a tour of the U.K. Staying busy on the road the group is expected to be back in the U.S. with a 40-city string of dates this fall to run Sept. 10 through Nov. 2.

To find out Rend Collective tour specifics check out http://rendcollective.com/tour/.

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