The Christian Music Thread Genre • Page 79

Hey friends! I want to make sure everyone in here knows that my new album came out today! It's a completely reimagined version of the album that I released back in January, with new songs, new guest features, the occasional new lyric/riff/harmony, and new mix/masters. It's basically a brand new experience, so for anyone who already heard the first version, I hope you'll give this one a chance.

And if you're new to my music, I get pretty varied RIYLs, including Switchfoot, House of Heroes, Mae, Emery, Thrice, As Cities Burn, etc.

Click here for Bandcamp or other streaming services: Development & Compromise - Chase Tremaine

 

I would be interested to hear what gave you this idea - quite novel to do this, particularly in the same year as the original. Would love to hear the inspiration/reasoning etc.

 

Sure thing!

There's a LOT I could say here about why I remade the album, but the answer to "in the same year" is quite simple. I've received some "best of" talk for 2021, so I really didn't want the album to be removed from that consideration, and while it took a very rushed post-production process and an extremely short album rollout in order to release prior to the holiday season, I think it was worth it not to double-dip the album into multiple years. And on a practical level, I'm (fingers crossed) hoping that the new version will revitalize interest in the album before people and publications start putting together their best-of lists.

Gosh so where to even begin in terms of everything else. I wasn't, say, NOT proud of the original album. I really liked it and was especially proud of what we managed to accomplish under the time and budgetary restraints I had that first go around. Recording 11 songs in 5 days is kinda unheard of except in genres where all the instruments are recorded together live. I was bummed that the mastering of the original album came out a little quiet and that it didn't really accentuate the guitars very well, but I learned to live with it.

But the thing that really nagged me was that...I was basically betraying my own standards for albums. The "album" as a medium for creating and consuming music is extremely important to me, but when I recorded those 11 songs in 5 days, I didn't know that I was making a proper "album" -- I didn't even know how many songs I'd be recording (and 11 totally overshot our predictions). So when I released D&C back in January, I didn't really see the collection as being cohesive or as having any overarching theme, which was in direct contrast to Unfall (which is pretty thematically and sonically unified).

That brings me to May/June-ish, when I had a "lightbulb" moment about D&C and realized that there was an underlying theme that, unbeknownst to me, tied basically all of the songs together: accepting reality as it is, including the parts that challenge and discomfort us, versus creating fantasies to escape within. When I had this realization, it also occurred to me that there were a few other songs in my catalogue that deserved spots on the album -- two in particular ("Saturday AM" and "Interrogate the Fantasy") that I thought would really help tie the album together and bring some of those themes closer to the surface.

At the same time (this past May), I had a really amazing studio experience, returning to the same producer to record a one-off single with my friend Theo (who now plays and sings on "Wings Not Made to Fly"). Our single hasn't been released yet, but I learned SO MUCH while recording it about how to track instruments in a way that really optimizes clarity and balance in the mix. I had inadvertently made both of my albums with some poor practices in terms of what makes the songs sound as good as possible (particularly in terms of tracking electric guitars). So alongside my desire to add some new songs to D&C, I also wanted to incorporate these new lessons into the preexisting D&C songs.

Thankfully, my producer was open to the idea of recording some new songs while simultaneously revisiting the old songs, with intentions of making them all sound consistent. It was a crazy balancing act that resulted in us doubling the studio time spent on the album and tripling the post-production time. But the new version of the album has a lot more thought, care, and intentionality behind it, and I really think the changes we made to the original songs have boosted them to a level that makes this set a more fitting sequel to Unfall.

 

In addition to what Chase wrote, I’ll add my word in that the album is just way better

 

hahahh you're right -- I should have just said THAT

 

This is SO interesting. I really appreciate your time here. Definitely going to check out the new version!

 

Thanks for asking! And if you get a chance, let me know what you think!

 

Curious what you think as well! One of my favorites of the year for sure.

 

Hm the RIYL includes two bands whose lyrics I have tattooed on me, will check this out

 

Ooooooo I'd love to know which two!

And I'd also love to hear what you think! Thanks for listening :)

 

Thrice and As Cities Burn!

 

Three classic 90s Christian albums available on vinyl for the first time today:

Switchfoot - Legend of Chin
https://www.smlxlvinyl.com/products/switchfoot-legend-of-chin-lpsmlxl-exclusive

Audio Adrenaline - Bloom
https://www.smlxlvinyl.com/products/audio-adrenaline-bloom-lp-smlxl-exclusive

Newsboys - Take Me To Your Leader
https://www.smlxlvinyl.com/products/newsboys-take-me-to-you-leader-smlxl-exclusive-lp

Limited to 500 each

 

New Trenches (Jimmy Ryan) single out today for their new album that drops on new year's day!

 

F I N A L L Y

 

Take Me To Your Leader is so great. I miss old Newsboys. Everything post-Furler is "eh"

 

Can’t believe we have a release date!!

 

I put a lot of mileage on Step Up To The Microphone during my early youth group years but yeah I ended up going back to TMTYL and Going Public as well. Entertaining Angels just really captivated me upon first listen and my young churchy heart swelled.

 

They were my first favorite band, I still find myself humming to the Breakfast Song often

 

Yeah, they used to my favorite as well. LoveLibertyDisco was the first album I bought ever. Got the cassette.

 

Will age me some but my first cassette was DC Talk's Jesus Freak and I was awarded that my memorizing the correct order of the books of the bible

 

That was my first cassette too. I remember my mom taking me to the Christian book store to pick it up after coming back from church camp. I bet I listened to JF, Freak Show, and Supernatural tapes several hundred times

 

I fell asleep listening to Jesus Freak one night last week lol

 

Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric has a solo album out early next year. Looks to be stellar.

 

Don’t know how I didn’t know about this thread. Former Christian scene tooth and nail nerd over here

just went down a rabbit hole on YouTube of number one gun and the fold.

favorite underrated tooth and nail bands?

 

Man Joy Electric ruled. I loved Hello Mannequin and Ministry of Archers