Following on from the critically acclaimed album Beauty In The Broken,  Canadian worship team Starfield return with a stunning new release I Will Go.  I Will Go showcases the skill of their songwriting alongside their own recordings of Hillsong United’s Hosanna and /Ben Cantelon’s Remain.

Starfield have been building a strong support base in the UK having played 3 consecutive years at Scotland’s Frenzy festival and a small UK church tour in June 2007.  This year Starfield have already booked two trips to the UK one in June to tour churches and a return in August to play events like this years Soul Survivor and Fuel (Belfast) with more dates being added!

Starfield will only continue to grow with the launch of I Will Go – a must hear release for those with a heart for global mission and a passion for modern worship!

Truly inspired in every sense of the word, Grammy Award winner, CeCe Winans will release her 8th solo project Thy Kingdom Come, a celebration of the heart, soul and spirit of Gospel music.

Finding the beauty of God's well of inspiration in both the sacred and the secular, CeCe Winan's seamlessly segues showcases the crystalline vocals, celestial melodies and top shelf musical elements that have made her one of the most popular and influential, artists working in contemporary Gospel music.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Kelly returns to her roots as a praise and worship leader and delivers Born To Worship, a collection of 10 songs written and arranged by Sarah.

The album contains the core of songs that Sarah has been taking to churches around the world over the past two years. Highlights include 'Faithful Father,' 'Sit With You Awhile' and the lead single, 'Brand New Day'. Produced by Mitch Dane (Jars Of Clay), this record is a beautiful and honest portrait of an artist at the heart of her identity.

In the UK and parts of Europe ‘Born To Worship’ is being released as a Limited Edition which contains six of the original 10 songs repeated as stripped back acoustic versions all for the original price.

Everybody needs a friend. From the modern phenomenon of social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook to the classic comfort found alongside special schoolmates and work buddies, we’re always looking for someone with whom we can laugh and cry.

Since 2004, music lovers have enjoyed a real camaraderie with rising pop rock band Hawk Nelson, helping the quartet sell nearly half a million albums land personal appearances on major television and motion picture projects.

Now the true bond of friendship between the group and others continues to strengthen, mature and be more overtly celebrated than ever before with the Canadian originated act’s third Tooth & Nail release, 'Hawk Nelson Is My Friend'.

“Going into this record, we sat down and thought about how we’ve always had this mentality of not so much winning fans as making friends,” says born frontman Jason Dunn. “We want to be clear that we’re all about being on the same level as the audience.”

“The album title is also what’s printed across the front of our most popular tee shirt,” adds quintessentially friendly Hawk Nelson bass player Daniel Biro. “And there’s a little joke in there, because so many people still think ‘Hawk Nelson’ is some guy’s name.”

To be fair, that mix-up happens a lot less these days. In fact, the band’s good name helped recruit some cool new compadres for the recording of Hawk Nelson Is My Friend. For the first time, the guys worked with top producer David Bendeth (Elvis, Paramore, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), tracking at his New Jersey studio and in addition to writing with longtime friend Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch, Dunn and Biro also met and wrote with Matthew Gerrard (High School Musical, Hannah Montana), Our Lady Peace lead singer Raine Maida (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson), and 80's pop star-turned-hit songsmith Richard Marx ('Right Here Waiting,' Keith Urban).

Refreshingly, Hawk Nelson doesn’t rest on its youthful success and has no problem reaching past the pop-punk core to create something uniquely enjoyable for its audience.

“We don’t want to be that band whose record sounds just like the last one,” Biro explains. “It’s great to work with people who have so much experience and can help us grow.”

In a raucously poetic sort of way, Hawk Nelson Is My Friend opens with first single 'Friend Like That,' a pounding rocker with fuzzy, spiraling guitars and fist-pumping Hey! Hey! Hey! Ramones-like shouts. Seeking heavenly guidance and earthly alliance at the same time, the song declares, I need somebody on the inside, somebody who can set me free . . . Make some noise if you feel this way. Anybody got a friend like that?

Dunn explains, “So many people are struggling today. Most of all they need a friend, and we believe everyone has a friend in God.”

Deeper into the record, electrified new anthem and sure favourite 'Arms Around Me', finds Hawk Nelson touching on social and spiritual issues of regret and forgiveness, thankful for the friends who are, always near me, even when it’s ugly.

Like its loyal audience, Hawk Nelson shows clear signs of growth on new songs like 'One Little Miracle.' Co-written with Marx, the track captures a perfect pop moment that blends innovative playing, great melodies and a strong belief: "One little revolution could turn it all around, back to the kingdom we once knew; just a little bit of me and a little bit of you . . . one little miracle to get us through."

'Not the Same' marks a clear step ahead in the band’s artistry as well. Although Hawk Nelson’s early punk influences (Green Day, Blink 182) are still evident, this richly textured song about the past represents a progression into mellower yet no less passionate musical territory that is matched by the lyrical declaration of we’re onto something new.

Essential to the all around appeal of 'Hawk Nelson Is My Friend' are the contributions of guitarist Jonathan Steingard and drummer Aaron Tosti. In talking about cuts like 'One Little Miracle' and 'Not the Same,' Biro describes the remarkably dynamic and highly melodic and muscular guitar parts as being 'so good I could cry.' And it was Tosti who set the energetic tone for the entire record, laying his confident, seasoned rhythms down first alone in the studio when a time crunch required the rest of Hawk Nelson to stay out on tour with a fill-in stickman.

For all of their adventures and successes thus far, the members of Hawk Nelson still see themselves as “four guys just trying to make it,” says Dunn. “We’ll always be working toward that, trying to write the best songs possible.”

'Hawk Nelson Is My Friend' most definitely lives up to that goal. Their friends will love it.

The most unique sound that reaches the ear upon listening to 'Roots' isn’t the sinewy, snaking interplay of percussion and bass, or the empyrean voices wafting through the ether. Nor is it the watery, warbling guitars, skewed tinkling of toy piano, drowsily yawning horns or reedy wheezes of accordion, though those rich sonic textures definitely aren’t the makings of just any old song. The rarest sound is that of an artist and a truly wise man describing the soil in which he’s grounded his soul through the changing seasons.

"Oh, men like these, they are just like trees planted near streams of water…"

That artist and wise man is Shawn McDonald and his chronicle of lived wisdom is Roots, a collection of 12 transparent meditations on the divine sustenance that feeds the soul, his third dispatch from the studio and fifth overall album. These earthy folk-soul pearls explore elements that the 30 year old Oregon-raised, Seattle-based singer-songwriter has learned are essential for life, health and growth clear, uninterrupted vision; fear-shattering trust; delight in truly good things rather than stomach-sickening junk; an unhurried rhythm of life that embraces each season as it comes; the contentment to hold whatever God brings in an open hand.

If Simply Nothing—McDonald’s 2004 debut—was the cathartic cry of a young man who’d travelled darkened paths alone only to be stared in the face with his desperate need for God, and 'Ripen' was the raw-hearted vignette of a young man stretched by the weight of new responsibilities, then 'Roots' is a portrait of that same man savouring the wealth of lessons learned through marriage (he and his wife Kate are entering their third year), new fatherhood (baby boy Cohen Reid McDonald arrived in April of 2007) and a pilgrimage to foreign lands (Zimbabwe and Israel, to be exact). You might call it musical wisdom literature of a sort. “This is the message that I want to come across: being a man that flourishes in Christ,” he shares. “For me it was a time of rejoicing in the growth that I feel like God has put into my life.”

McDonald is known for lending his fluid, breathy rasp to intoxicatingly passionate spiritual anthems (a quick visit to YouTube reveals just how many listeners have identified strongly enough with his songs to pick up a guitar and belt them out themselves). This new batch still contains plenty that could unite a roomful of voices in intimate communion with God, but songs like 'Clarity'—with its syncopated, stop-on-a-dime acoustic groove—and 'Greed'—best described as folk-funk seasoned with cursive strings and banjo—display a deepening and broadening of his artistic voice.

Incidentally, both songs were inspired by McDonald’s transformative experiences in Zimbabwe. “I’m a fan of perspective-changing. I’m a fan of seeing things through different eyes.” That’s exactly what happened when the artist and his wife opened their hearts to their African surroundings. “Here these people have complete need—they need medicine, they need food, they need education; they need all these things,” reflects McDonald about the impetus for the song 'Greed.' “But what I found in these people was peace and joy that somehow despite all the needs, they still retain this sense of life that I don’t always experience in the States and for me that was really profound.”

For someone as deeply moved by the arts as McDonald, it’s not surprising that music isn’t his only mode of artistic expression. He plumbs the depths of his soul through songwriting and turns his perceptive gaze outward with photography. “I almost feel like I have to do it—it’s a part of who I am. The art’s already in me. I just let it out.” McDonald took loads of photographs in Zimbabwe, compellingly capturing the spirit of the people he encountered in villages, clinics and orphanages. The couple have made a series of trips abroad and have more planned for a book of stories and images that he and Kate are creating for international relief organization World Vision. “We just want to bring awareness and help people in need. I think it’s good to step outside of yourself and help others. That’s the call of Christ.”

Likewise, McDonald found an approach to touring last year that wedded creativity and generosity. As an art lover who strives to foster a unique sense of community at his shows, he welcomed visual artist Scott Erikson to paint new works each night on stage and the paintings were eventually auctioned off to benefit the Transpire Project. Knowing firsthand what an uphill struggle independent artistry can be, McDonald invited unsigned singer-songwriter Alli Rogers to join him on the road. “If the art is good and I believe in it, I want to share it just as much as I want somebody else to share my music.”

McDonald’s Zimbabwe experience was only one of the nutrients feeding his songwriting on 'Roots'. The artist plunged deeper into the fertile soil of scripture than ever before, concluding the album with a trio of songs firmly planted in scriptural ground. 'Time' echoes the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3—a reminder that God has created various seasons within the cycle of life. 'Shadowlands'—previously included on McDonald’s 'Scattered Pieces: Live'—borrows from Psalm 23 to confess faith in the midst of danger. 'Hallelujah' comes like a gorgeous exhale at the album’s close: his hushed voice is born aloft on a regal swell of strings, as he moves between meditation on the virtues lauded in the Beatitudes (found in Matthew 5) and wholehearted assent to those divine truths. As the music fades, he can still be heard singing, as if to say ‘Let the meditation on these things continue even after the last note has rung.’ “In my experience, sometimes scripture says it in a way that’s way more powerful than I can say it,” McDonald explains.

Roots also marks the first time he’s done much collaborating in songwriting. “I think with the past records it was almost a sense of pride—I just didn’t want other people’s names on it,” he shares. “With this record, I came into it with a new mindset. I just want to make the best art that I can make and if that means that I sometimes have other ideas given to me by other people, then I guess that’s what I’m going to do.” Songs like 'Slow Down' are the best of both worlds—McDonald’s hallmark soul-bearing honesty delving into new territory. The short, spare tune co-written with Ben Glover speaks from their wives’ perspectives, offering a rare glimpse into the often hurried, harried home life of a touring musician. Throughout the song, crackling—like that of a dusty, old phonograph—hearkens back to a slower, simpler time, and the music’s lulling pulse literally slows at the end.

Other collaborators include Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman, Marc Byrd and Christopher Stevens, the latter of whom has manned the production helm during all three of McDonald’s studio albums. Stevens and McDonald waxed experimental on 'Ripen' with an Indonesian Timor guitar from eBay and a broken thrift store piano and further widened the range of unorthodox instrumentation this time. It’s a true reflection of McDonald’s own adventurous spirit. “I love stuff that’s out of the ordinary. You hear the bass-drums-guitar thing all the time. We’re trying to create our own sense of music and use different things in ways that they’ve never been used before. I don’t want to make music because it’s what’s popular—I want to make music because it’s what I love, and what drives me as a person.”

McDonald knows that fostering growth means finding and sustaining community, especially when you find yourself in a cycle of planting and transplanting one’s roots. “Being a musician and travelling is a hard lifestyle—you’re always away from home. I love it, but at the same time family can hurt because of it. I never realized before how much having people that relate to us and understand what we’re going through in our lives really effects our growth.”

Roots are like branches beneath the earth, ever-pushing and spreading to support the weight of the entire tree. They’re simultaneously old and new, all that they’re becoming with traces of all that they’ve been. Shawn McDonald is like that. Some nights he unfurls the gripping story of a drug dealer in trouble with the law-turned God-seeker with a burning heart, a guitar and a down-to-earth way with words. Some nights he tells the story’s latest chapter. “Whatever I feel led to talk about in the moment I usually do. It can be all over the place. I think that’s the beauty of life—we’re all figuring it out. I want it to be that people come and it’s an experience and they learn something different every time. For me personally, when I go see an artist that’s what I want—I want to hear new things; I want to hear new thoughts and ideas; I want to hear growth.”

A wise man, indeed.

Success for Sanctus Real has typically been marked with massive radio singles, including six No. 1 songs and 11 Top 5 hits, albums that have marched up the Billboard sales charts, major tours with some of the biggest names in the business, or draped with various awards, including the Modern Rock Album of the Year Dove Award. But with their newest record, We Need Each Other, the band members feel they have created their most successful album to date because for them, it is just that.

After three records, the guys have finally crafted in their fourth effort the ever-elusive album - definitely not the norm in this season of hit singles. Not that the first single and title track wasn'’t infectious enough to climb to No. 1 in record time, which it did, but the real surprise for the listener lies in the album as a whole.

We Need Each Other represents a startling leap forward in its songwriting, musicianship and overall production and for the band, a way to connect to its listeners with a theme worth talking about. Wholeness, family and unity are what Sanctus Real has always been about, but it has never been penned as effectively. Complete with gut-honest lyrics and feel-good melodies from the opening riff to the closing thought, a strong, unyielding sense of unity and community is woven through the very musical fibre of this much anticipated new album.

“There’s a real sense of direction and momentum surrounding the band and the new album” reflects Sanctus Real's lead vocalist Matt Hammitt. “"The past several months have been an exciting time for us. We feel like we’'ve made the best record of our career and are looking forward to sharing these new songs with our fans.”"

Since the release of 2006'’s critically acclaimed The Face of Love, which feature the No. 1 songs “Don’t Give Up” and “I’m Not Alright,” the band members themselves have grown into a unified whole. “When we made 'Face Of Love', we were going through some personal trials,” recalls Hammitt. “Reaching the other side of that, we were feeling much more light hearted going into this record. This time around, we [Hammitt, drummer Mark Graalman and guitarist Chris Rohman] also had a new bass player, Dan Gartley and a fifth member who is a second guitar player, Pete Prevost. We felt like we were a complete band, having toured together for a couple of years as a unit.”

“I couldn't be more thrilled about the way this record turned out,” notes Rohman. “It's a great reflection of the unity God has blessed us with since The Face Of Love. This time around it was the five of us giving everything we could offer, but from a very restored sense of being.”

Since 1996, Sanctus Real have been performing, touring and recording—all with joint goals of entertaining and encouraging listeners. Known for it’s captivating live performances, the band is now getting ready to launch the biggest tour of its career as they join Third Day in early March ’08 for a 35 city road trip that hits arenas in major markets across the country. Not slowing down, Sanctus Real jump directly from the tour into headline positions on the festival circuit this summer.

Furthermore, Sanctus Real have kicked it up a notch on the new album by forging new musical territory, while melding together the trademark Sanctus sound fans know and love. We Need Each Other is Sanctus Real’s most diverse and creative album yet. Featuring not only it's most hard hitting rock songs to date but also it's most atmospheric, the band members really challenged one another as musicians, to play and sing parts that would be unique and interesting. Writing enough material to fill 10 albums, they crafted lyrics and honed individual parts, even learning new instruments to help capture the emotion and underscore the subject matter.

“"There are some spots on this record where I just pushed the limits of what I can do vocally, whether it be on a soft, kind of rustic sounding vocal or whether it be this overdriven, rock high range kind of vocal,” Hammitt' confides." “Every one of us experimented from A to Z with our instruments.”

Graalman adds, “I never realized what a lack of background vocals there were on the last record. Then to hear all the BGVs on this record, it’s like, ‘wow!’ There was this wall of sound that lends a unique dynamic to our music.”

Sanctus Real, for the first time, also invited musicians outside of the band to make special appearances. With The Face Of Love producer, Chris Stevens (tobyMac, Shawn McDonald), back at the production helm, Hammitt is joined by vocalist Katie Herzig on the nostalgic “Half Our Lives,” showing the range and reflection of a band that is maturing as songwriters. EMI CMG Label Group President Peter York, offers his screaming bluesy lead guitar licks on the album’'s opening track, “Turn On The Lights.”

While there is obvious momentum carrying the music and message of Sanctus Real across the nation and beyond, for the band, it’'s all about what kind of legacy they want to leave. “It’'s about asking yourself what you'’re really living for,” notes Graalman, reflecting on the song “Legacy” that closes the new album. “The older you get, the more you think about what truly matters in life. It is our desire to leave behind a legacy that will point people to Jesus. That especially, our closest friends and family, those who know us best, would say that we truly followed the Lord and would be inspired to always do the same.”

And audiences are definitely responding to the musical mission of Sanctus Real. Long before radio launched the lead single and title track, “We Need Each Other,” to the top of the charts, the band had concert goers immediately singing along to the memorable melody of the song, grasping hold of its message.

The guys in Sanctus Real have arrived in a big way, and not just because they finally decided to put their faces on the cover. There’s a saying in the music business that it all starts with a song and, for Toledo, OH-based Sanctus Real, the song is synonymous with the message and the outworking of the hope those songs inspire.

With several huge radio hits under his belt, Matthew West is one of Christian Music's fastest rising stars.

Ubiquitous songs like 'Only Grace', 'More' and 'Next Thing You Know' are proof that Matthew knows how to write massive songs that really connect with the Christian Music listeners.

On his third album, 'Something To Say', Matthew explodes with even bigger songs of passion and lives lived for Christ..  This album is full of hits destined to keep it in the charts for a long time.

Check out Matthew Talking about his new release here…..

BEC Recordings is thrilled to introduce newcomer Chris Taylor and his April 15th debut release “Take Me Anywhere.”  This 27-year-old Floridian is thrilled to have found a label home at BEC and to release his deep worship-meets-progressive pop debut.

Chris Taylor remembers an idyllic childhood made possible by hard-working parents who managed vacation rental properties. At the young age of 13, his mom brought him a guitar to cheer him up after a hard day at school.  This was the beginning of a lifelong musical journey.  After accepting Christ two years later, Chris began leading worship for his youth group followed by a trek to England after high school and college where he interned in worship ministry at Soul Survivor church.  There he met worship leader and songwriter Matt Redman and was dramatically humbled by the authenticity of his faith.

“I actually stopped leading worship for awhile after that experience,” he says. “It was great, but truth be told, I went there to get a pat on the back, to find value in what I was doing. Then I was so convicted by what I learned from Matt’s testimony. He had gone through such dark times, and I had just envied his success. So if it meant being quiet for the rest of my life, to even begin to approach that level of sincerity, I was ready to do it.”

It was this time of silence that Chris began to dig into his songwriting and theology.  He soon met producer Allen Salmon (Mute Math, Sanctus Real) and after a two-hour session he had recorded “Take Me Anywhere,” the title track and shivery pop cut layered with echoing harmonies.

“That’s the song that took me anywhere,” laughs Taylor. “I have sung it at church many times, and now it’s the first radio single. The lyrics remind me of the men who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They weren’t looking for him at that moment, but after the encounter, their hearts were burning, and it changed the course of their lives.” It was after recording the title track that he found the partnership with BEC Recordings in Seattle.

Stylistically, Chris is right when he says, “all these songs are worship songs.” Each one is made distinct by Taylor’s poetic imagery and a pure singing voice that one journalist praised for its “innate sensitivity.”