|PIC1|GMA Dove winners and former MSN “Artist of the Year” David Crowder Band will release their fifth studio album, Church Music, on September 22 from sixstepsrecords and EMI CMG Label Group.

Aptly titled, the band hopes their self-produced recording will prompt listeners to recognize the continual evolvement of music within the church as well as transport them into an awareness that we exist within the very presence of God, therefore allowing church music to happen anywhere.

“I hope this album serves as a reminder of music within the church, of its richness and its broadness, and the tension that exists in using elements of cultural language to express our collective experience and also still remain a transformative presence that is set apart,” says band front man David Crowder.

To add to the uniqueness of the album, the 17 songs on the album play continuously from beginning to end with one song blending into the next. In order to accomplish this, the band poured an immense amount of work into the process, sequencing the tracks before anything had been recorded so keys and tempos could be finalised. The result: 73 full minutes of music – 17 tracks, which ably stand alone, while at the same time seamlessly join together.

“We asked ourselves, if we, as a band, were to throw our arms around the popular music of our time, here in 2009, how would we do it,” says Crowder. “We started with the track. We programmed the album first, forcing ourselves to write from the track up, and then, after the song emerged, we dismantled it, replacing much of the programming with live instrumentation but leaving the fundamentals that the song emerged from intact.”

The band’s first single received a warm welcome on iTunes capturing the No 1 spot on the Christian and gospel singles chart the week it was released. “How He Loves” just debuted at No 26 on the AC Indicator chart.

With over 23,000 followers on Twitter and an active myspace and web page, David Crowder Band gave fans the opportunity to follow the making of Church Music through live 24-hour studio web-cams and viral videos titled “Rockumentaries.” With around 50,000 views, the four short films include parodies chronicling everything from a twitter obsession to battling guitar solos for the new record. To view these “Rockumentaries,” visit www.youtube.com/davidcrowderband

The band plan to make the Church Music project available in vinyl, available on the tour and through the band’s website. The double-disc LP also comes with a code give owners the ability to download a digital version of the record.

Church Music is the follow-up to David Crowder Band’s 2007 release of Remedy. Along with the group’s 6 GMA Dove Awards and 17 nominations, David Crowder Band has toured with Michael W. Smith, Third Day and Mercy Me including a headlining tour with Mute Math.

The first Christian artist to be named MSN.com’s Artist of the Year in 2006 as well as fostering a partnership with M-Audio/Propellerhead’s Reason software, Crowder is also the namesake behind premiere guitar maker Tom Anderson Guitarworks’s Crowdster Acoustic.