MercyMe Returns with New Project

Dove Award-winning and Grammy-nominated band MercyMe will return with their next project, All That Is Within Me, due 20 November.

The band is known as one of the few contemporary Christian music groups to have had all of their recordings certified Gold or Platinum.

Produced by Brown Bannister and recorded at Cider Mountain Recorders and ranch in Idaho, with strings recorded at London's famed Abbey Road Studio, the band purposefully 'got away from it all' in order to focus on getting their creative direction straight from God for this project.

As a result, an album of songs "straight from Scripture" was created, says lead singer/songwriter Bart Millard. He adds that in many ways this record is taking them back to where MercyMe began, singing for the church, commenting that it is music "geared for the church, it's what we do live, what we love, who we are, and what consumes us."

The record features worshipful moments like "God With Us", "You Reign", and "Sanctified" alongside the more rocky and upbeat "Goodbye Ordinary" and "Time Has Come", combined with very personal songs like "Finally Home". "Finally Home" captures Millard's thoughts about what he'll tell his earthly father (who died from cancer several years ago and inspired "I Can Only Imagine") about his life and how he'll greet his heavenly Father.

Full of energetic, melodic, thoughtful, and memorable moments, this record aims to touch the heart of the church in a very real, emotional and direct way. Accompanying the regular CD release is a special collector's edition that features a bonus disc including a six-song live video, interview footage with the band, three acoustic versions of songs and a free ring tone offer.

MercyMe's love for God, their families, music, and as many know, sports, is what consumes their lives, and in tune with these passions, the album's cover features pieces of 56 photos from the band members' personal collections, expressing visually "all that is within them" with images of family, sports, Bibles, pets, nature, instruments and more. In addition, descriptions of these photos will be a part of the launch of MercyMe's new website on their street date (www.mercyme.org).

About the project's first single, "God With Us", (hitting AC/CHR/INSPO formats October 5), Millard remarks, "The whole idea that this big God would even look our way is mind boggling; it's just an amazing thought that God would ever pay attention to us.

"This song is really trying to relay that feeling when you find yourself in the presence of God and it's so intense that you're going to bust at the seams.

"And I'll tell you, it's a daunting task to use a limited vocabulary to describe an infinite God, but this is one of those songs that we hope outlasts us and the church will sing long after we're gone."

Since their debut in 2001, Grammy-nominated, American Music Award and multiple GMA Music Award winners MercyMe have sold over 4 million units in CD and DVD sales, including "Almost There", nearly triple platinum, their 2003 project "Spoken For" which is approaching platinum sales, and the RIAA Gold certification for "Undone", the MercyMe Live DVD, and "Coming Up to Breathe", which also entered the Billboard Top 100 at No13.

"MercyMe has always been about the business of expanding God's Kingdom through music," remarked INO Records President Jeff Moseley. "Over the past several years they have seen conventional and unconventional opportunities come their way.

"On this record I am excited that they feel led to expand the Kingdom through songs that build up and edify the body of Christ. These songs exhort believers in a form that is perhaps the best body of work they have delivered to date. I believe these songs will resonate deeply with the church."

With their multi-platinum sales, and one of the industry's most notable talents, MercyMe has sold out venues including Radio City Music Hall and received media attention from the likes of The Tonight Show, CNN, Fox New Channel's Fox & Friends, ABC News, CBS' Early Show, and has been seen on the pages of Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, USA Today, Billboard, and more.

In addition, MercyMe has garnered four consecutive mainstream radio hits with "I Can Only Imagine", (No. 4 AC/top 25 on Top 40/Hot AC), "Here With Me" (No. 4 AC), "Homesick" (top 10 AC), and "So Long Self".

"Some of MercyMe's finest live moments come when they come together with a crowd and just worship," remarks the band's manager Scott Brickell. "There are so many songs on this record where there is the opportunity for this to happen, so the band is really excited to hit the road and play this new music and worship with fans across the country."