Rend Collective To Release 'Homemade Worship By Handmade People'

Rend Collective To Release Sophomore Album ‘Homemade Worship By Handmade People’

Published on December 19th, 2011

Internationally acclaimed Rend Collective Experiment releases its sophomore album, ‘Homemade Worship By Handmade People,’ 9/01/12 on Kingsway with global distribution. The album was recorded and produced by Rend Collective in Irish church halls and homes in the band’s organic, collective style. The new album fuses a depth of sung theology and fresh melodies that reflect themes of redemption, devotion and celebration with soundscapes that span from Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons to Fleet Foxes and Snow Patrol.

“Things that are homemade demand so much more time and love than something made from a factory, yet they are always worth it; the quality and uniqueness are what is beautiful,” explains Rend Collective Experiment bandleader, Gareth Gilkenson. “We refused to make an album in a studio separate from our normal lives. Humanity and the Divine are what we are celebrating here…We hope you like what we have made!”

The buzz that greeted Rend Collective Experiment’s debut release, ‘Organic Family Hymnal,’ included a viral ‘iPhone worship’ video, UK tours with Francis Chan and Shane Claibourne, and a major market, sold out US tour with Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio. With the release of ‘Homemade Worship By Handmade People,’ the journey for Northern Ireland’s Rend Collective members continues from their new homes, having recently moved “across the pond” to Atlanta.

For Rend Collective, the music has never been about adding to their coffers or building fame, it has always been about people and building God’s Kingdom here. That direction continues on the album with songs like ‘Build Your Kingdom Here’ and ‘Second Chances,’ the first radio single and music video from the album that premiers on YouTube Dec. 26.

A live preview of the band’s studio recording of the famous hymn, ‘Be Thou My Vision,’ featured on ‘Homemade Worship By Handmade People,’ can already be seen on the band’s YouTube channel. Rend Collective translate the song into a form and melody for contemporary worshippers that a Lancaster Intelligencer Journal writer calls “powerfully-done” and NewRelease Tuesday.com calls “an amazing performance.’

The new album will also engage Rend Collective fans in a continued dialog as part?of the collective family. In fact, the CD jacket for ‘Homemade Worship By Handmade? People’ contains an “I’m part of the collective” poster fold where fans are encouraged?to upload an image onto the band’s website, www.rendcollectiveexperiment.com. The ?band is also asking for videos where people join in the collective conversation. Launching this page next month with videos from Francis Chan and Tim Hughes, Gilkenson explains, “It was never about us, it was always about Him.”

Rend Collective Experiment is a group of friends collectively wondering how to make sense of the conundrum of life, God and community. This movement of 20-somethings that began in Ireland and spread across Europe before hitting the Americas, Rend Collective Experiment has been endorsed by Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Francis Chan and David Crowder.

With melodies, harmonic progression and lyrics that are scriptural and contemporary, fresh and ancient, Rend Collective Experiment is a nod to the places in Scripture where it says to “rend your hearts” and not your garments, a bold call to be genuine. “We’re a ‘collective’ that is not into the celebrity aspect of the music scene a bunch of guys and ladies, a body, an experiment in progress,” says Gilkenson.