Resound Worship Releases Congregational Worship Album 'Doxecology' Exploring Ecological Themes
Resound Worship has released 'Doxecology', a new album of contemporary, congregational worship songs on themes of creation, ecology and Christian hope. Alongside the 13-track album there are scores and charts, backing tracks and lyric videos (with streaming permission), and an accompanying book of studies with contributions from some leading scholars and practitioners in the fields of environmental concern and worship.
"The Doxecology collection is the result of a two-year writing process. It began as a response to the growing climate crisis and the recognition of a disconnect between these real concerns and the language and content of our songs in church. As a songwriting team, we strongly believe that what we sing forms us as Christians and reinforces our priorities in life. We really couldn’t find much else out there on this subject. And we love nothing more than to explore a gap area.
We began by reading, researching and studying - getting to grips with developments in theology, recognising that we had a lot to learn before we began to write. Some way into the project, we felt it was growing bigger than us, so we opened it up into a worldwide search for songs from other writers, for which we had 150 submissions. Several months of sifting, editing and honing later, and the final collection was assembled. Throughout the writing process, we were kindly supported by the (now retired) President of A Rocha International, Peter Harris.
Careful plans to record the album live at a multi-generational retreat over Easter were suddenly shelved with the arrival of Covid-19. We had to quickly develop a new approach and a new sound. Producer, Matt Weeks, drafted in musicians with their own studios and recording facilities who could work within the lockdown conditions. This opened up new possibilities for contributors, including the acclaimed producer, conductor and percussionist Troy Miller (Amy Winehouse, Laura Mvula, Gregory Porter) on drums and Mark Edwards (Katie Melua, Ben Castle, Stuart Townend) on piano.
As is the usual style for Resound - who operate more as a team of songwriters than ‘artists’ - guest vocalists contributed to most of the tracks. These include Gemma & Timo Scharnowski (The Forest Feeling), James Martin, Matt Tinsley, Paul Zach (The Porter’s Gate), Silla Mosely, Ryan Flanigan (Liturgical Folk) in addition to Resound’s own Andy Clark & Geraldine Latty. Group vocals were provided in lockdown by many participants in our 12 Song Challenge, a monthly songwriting initiative."
