On August 9, multi-platinum selling artist Steven Curtis Chapman will unveil re:creation, his 17th album release over his iconic 20 + year career.
The new album features five new songs from the five-time GRAMMY ® Award winner and all new re-imagined recordings of his eight biggest hits. (See full track listing below)The entire record has a progressive and fresh acoustic sound, which reflects the energy and life found in the songs. The title speaks to the actual recreation of these songs, which are entirely new re-recordings in a new musical space. More and most importantly though, the word recreation speaks to the new life God is now recreating for Chapman and his family as they walk forward in their lives.
In examining how to best recreate some of the songs that made him the most awarded artist in Christian music history, Chapman once again tapped Brent Milligan, whom he worked with on Beauty Will Rise, to co-produce the new project.
“Musically I felt Beauty Will Rise went to a new place for me,” Chapman explains. “It was a more acoustic, more organic recording, and that was something that I felt was really appropriate for this album as well. I write almost all of my songs with just an acoustic guitar. They begin in that organic and stripped down space, but then you get into the studio and the sounds of the day and the technology of that era influence how the songs get recorded. I thought, ‘Wow, I’d love to redo ‘For The Sake Of The Call’ because that song means something different now. It means continuing to live out the call to share our faith in light of all we’ve been through. When I did it originally, it was a big production. The sounds of the drums were real big and there was a lot of reverb and I was thinking, ‘I would love to do that song more the way that I perform it live now.’ I found that since Maria went to heaven, many of the songs that I have written over the years continue to grow in meaning. The heart behind doing this was asking, how can I take some of those songs that have a new depth to me and reinterpret those, recreate those? Thus the title re:creation.”
The first single from the album “Do Everything,” recently made its debut at radio and in one week over 28 stations added it to their playlist, making it the most added song at Christian radio last week. Chapman opens up about the upbeat anthem in a personal video shown here [4] .
Chapman cherishes his connection with his fans and supporters as they have walked with him throughout his career. “I feel like they’ve been on the journey with me from the very beginning and I feel like this album is another step in that and a chance for me to say, ‘Friends, you’ve prayed for us and loved us so much. I want you to know it’s okay to laugh with us. We’re still going to cry, but know that we feel like we’re coming into a new season and the sun is coming up.’
re:creation Track Listing: (*not final sequence)
Do Something
Long Way Home
Live Out Loud
Great Adventure
Heaven In The Real World
Speechless
For The Sake Of The Call
Magnificent Obsession
Meant To Be
More To This Life
All That’s Left Is To Love
Morning Has Broken
Dive