YFriday: Great, glorious and right on time

|PIC1|Yfriday’s latest album arrives at precisely the point when most bands are trying to rebrand and recycle, at some way towards the end of the first decade. But that’s not what’s going on with the worship‐soaked, heavenly‐charged, congregation‐fuel known as Great & Glorious.

Controversial as the word may be, there’s none that describes Yfriday’s latest project better: it’s an evolution, a maturing into everything their potential has hinted at. Early days saw the band and their extended‐family of singers, shouters and supporters bouncing around to the beats of firework guitars and skyscraping drums. They were good days – the right music for the right time – but now, with Great & Glorious, the band are ready to become what is right for now: a collection of believers, putting words and tunes to the truths they are discovering about God. And this is their promise now; to lead us a little closer, shine the light a little brighter and raise the bar still higher for worship bands today.

It all makes sense when you think about it. In 2008 Yfriday’s Ken Riley was the first Christian artist to receive an ASCAP Award for his co‐write with Brenton Brown on ‘Everlasting God’ – a track which had burned its way into the subconscious of millions of Christians the world over and had become one of the top twenty most played songs across all genres in the USA. Add that to the band’s continual commitment to working with the likes of British Youth For Christ, hosting monthly
outreach and worship events in their hometown of Newcastle, and it’s obvious that something significant was about to emerge over the horizon.

And so we have the eleven congregational worship songs that make up Great and Glorious; a grown up record, an album of depth and feeling but rooted in the band’s core principles of hooks, melodies, guitars and raw, honest appeal. The album contains the trademark Yfriday bounce‐ups – like ‘Joy Of The Lord’, ‘Alive’ and the title track – but it is the presence of a number of slower, more obviously worshipful tracks that mark this release out. ‘You Spoke’ is rooted in Biblical truth, ‘Saviour & Friend’ uploads the intimate truth of a personal revelation of God while ‘Come Let Us Worship’ is as strong a call to worship as you could ever hope to hear.

Perhaps the clearest example of the new phase that Yfriday find themselves in is the track ‘You Will Not Steal Our Children’. Getting the Trinity, Lazarus, the exodus and a powerful declaration of spiritual steadfastness into one song is no mean feat, but pulling it off in such a powerful and infinitely singable song as this is remarkable. Stuff like this can only come from the heart, and just one listen is enough to confirm that Yfriday’s is beating very well indeed.

Production is stronger than ever, thanks to the combined work of Sam Gibson (Delirious?, Hillsong United, Crowded House) alongside Ken Riley, and the presence of co‐writes with Martin Smith, Matt Redman and Tim Hughes all helps to add a uniquely congregational offering. Make no mistake, you’ll be hearing many of these songs bursting out of an acoustic guitar near you some day very soon.