Newday are back with new live album

After last year’s King Of Nations and 2009’s No Shout Too Loud, Newday are back with a live album that’s stronger than ever.

We Are Yours is a worthy successor, not only to its two big brothers, but to the events from which it has emerged. Newday’s roots lie in the Stoneleigh and Revive events, and it has become the key New Frontiers youth event. For proof just listen to the sound made by the 6,500 young people who showed up to worship together this summer.

You can hear them from the very start - a rendition of Matt Redman’s ‘Here For You’. There’s something extra potent about the arrangement: the piano is planer, the drums stronger and the voices fired by more determination than you might expect. When they sing ‘we welcome you with praise’ you know they mean it.

The album progresses with ‘There Is No One Better’ - a song which reminds all that there’s only one focus through the album. Then comes the title track, a song crafted by Brighton band Forerunner, with a nod to Hillsong United: feisty drums underpin mass shouts that collide to make a powerful declaration of faith and determination.

Throughout the album, there’s an ever-building sense of freedom. The cover of ‘10,000 Reasons’ marks the close of the album’s first half, a point at which ‘We Are Yours’ moves up a gear. ‘Father Like No Other’ flows into an open prayer at the end which a moment of powerful intimacy during which the Lord appears to be powerfully at work.

The cover of Bethel’s ‘One Thing Remains’ is equally powerful, but it is the song ‘Christus Victor’ that brings something truly unique and fresh to the album. Combining Latin, theology and a football terrace chant of ‘who are ya, who are ya? you’re not singing anymore’, you’ve got to admire Simon Brading’s confidence. And it works, too, reveling in the freedom that comes from the realisation that Christ really has won the victory.

Throughout the album Simon Brading is joined by fellow worship leaders Jordan Dillon, Jules Burt and Sam Cox. Together they’re clearly onto something fresh and powerful. Who knows what next year will bring?