Quarterly Music Beat
AN UPDATE FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BURNING DOG RADIO
Need to shake up your Spotify playlist rotation? You’ve come to the right place. This issue we have an album review you don’t want to sleep on. Get up, grab your earbuds, and open your laptop to listen to ‘Wake Up’ by Ecclesia (that’s eck-luh-see-uh).
From West Palm Beach, Florida, the trio is led by Andrew Padilla, who defines the musical project like this in a Youtube interview with Montell Fish: “We make music for Jesus. We like to push the boundaries of what we can do with that sonically. We’re passionate about drawing from different cultures and honoring different people, and representing the full church, every tribe, every tongue, and every nation.” This album screams “Use me, God!” Many Christian musicians make worship music, but after listening to this album for a while now, we’re concluding that for Ecclesia, writing lyrics is worship, producing music is worship, and performing music is worship.
After you hear just one song from the album, you’ll know that their mission is to encourage Christians to serve God and live radically for Jesus. Most of the tracks could have been scribbled in a prayer journal. This isn’t music you’d hear during worship at church, but it comes from the same heart. Their song “Radical” exclaims, “I’ll trade it all just to be with You / No turning back, no more / I wanna be radical for Jesus.”
The album is cohesive, but each song has its own experience. The first half of the album is energetic, anthem-ish, and other drivers will definitely see you rocking out to these songs in your car. “We Could Be the Ones” has some really fun, layered percussion and the message of the song is pivotal in any Christian’s life: Do I have a desire to be used by God for His purposes? If yes, this song will encourage you. If not, it will challenge your view of being a servant of God.
The second half of the album will breathe life into your “chill” music selection. A couple of the songs have some hip-hop inspiration, while others boast sounds similar to X Ambassadors. “Covenant” is written from the perspective of God, pleading with His lost kids, “Sin leads to the death of you / The demons want to beat you down till you’re black and blue / I’m tryna set you free in Me.”
Padilla says that the album was written to be a wake-up call to Christians that are living the “Christian country club” life by just sitting around enjoying nice church services. For me personally, this album is a beautiful motivator in my walk with Jesus. Check it out on Burning Dog Radio. We will be featuring this and more on 101.7 FM in Menomonie.