It's been five years since Rend Collective arrived on the Christian music scene with a bang. Their first record, Organic Family Hymnal, blended old hymn lyrics with new joyful melodies and a sense of fun. Their second album, Handmade Worship by Handmade People, saw them move in a folkier direction following the huge success of secular acts like Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling. Last year's The Art Of Celebration showed a rockier side to their repertoire but they retained their gift for a great melody.
So what to expect from their fourth record, As Family We Go, out this summer? Well, the headline is they haven't made a huge departure. No experimental jazz noodling or ambient soundscapes for example. Which is good news. Because Rend Collective are really good at writing worship songs that proclaim truth and stir up the heart.
As Family We Go is in a similar vein to The Art of Celebration with an urgent tempo to many of the verses followed by anthemic choruses. Joy Of The Lord, Free as a Bird and Every Giant Will Fall follow this pattern, with catchy hooks spilling out of every song – meaning you're humming along after only a couple of listens.
One of the delights of the first couple of Rend albums was the way they blended some of the old with the new and maybe there could be more of that here. The one time it does happen, it works really well. Your Royal Blood is an updating of the hymn Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus and demonstrates a slower groove, more R n' B than folk. Less appealing to my ears was the frenetic pace of opener Celebrate and penultimate track The Artist. They get a bit too close to the manic pace of kids' worship for my liking.
The expanded deluxe version of the album showcases Rend's version of Ireland's Call – the anthem used by the Irish Rubgy team. At first glance, it's an odd choice. But as Northern Irish natives, the band will be well aware of how the song has been used to bring together those from the North and the Irish Republic in a common cause as the lyrics suggest: "Come the day and come the hour/Come the power and the glory/We have come to answer/Our Country's call." Without too much of a stretch you can see how this could apply to us all, Irish or not, in heeding the call of the Gospel. And what a rousing rendition it is.
So, overall, nothing revelatory, but another very enjoyable and energising album from one of the best Christian bands to emerge in the past few years. The deluxe edition maybe points to a future of divergent musical styles containing remixes of several of the album's tracks as well as a great version of Every Giant Will Fall accompanied by Ukuleles. Maybe next time we'll see more of that experimentation, but for now, As Family We Go will do very nicely. As the cover art has it, these are 11 songs for the journey... Long may it continue.
