The Sound of His Nation
Youtubers Cross Nation and artist network His Creation Records have teamed up for a cross promotional album of Christian based EDM. The album is titled The Sound of His Nation volume 1 and features 11 different tracks from artist teams like Marshall Marshall, Jaisua and Eikon, Bryson Price and Adriana, Dj Flubbel and Kasiyya, as well as Xonar, Judah Banke, Kevin Aleksander and several others.
You’ll want to put on some black lights, strap on some glow sticks, paint your clothes and exposed skin with some fluorescent non toxic paint, and hit play after you load it up on your favorite listening device. If you’re already familiar with Marshall Marshall’s new release, then “Where You Go” will sound familiar. While Marshall Marshall deliver some new and deeper thoughts with their lyrics, many of the other tracks on this album have sparse themes and ideas, which make many 7/11 songs sound like they are theologically deep in comparison. There is nothing wrong with repetition, as long as the repetition makes sense in context. Chris Howland’s “Everlasting” is a prime example of repetition, and the sentiment it echoes is like that of Psalm 136. Psalm 136 would be considered a 7/11 song by some, because the phrase ‘His love endures forever’ repeats 26 times. However, in the context of “Everlasting” and the production (or arrangement for those over 50), the repetition is welcome as it adds a solidity and a singular point to ponder while allowing the music to create landscapes in the mind. “Cross Vision feat Adriana” by Bryson Price also falls into this category. “Higher” and “Suspense” take us on a purely instrumental journey, with the latter slipping into some cool jazz and then returning to the pumping beats of God’s dance floor. Finishing out this album is “We Rise feat Robin Vane” by Retain and “World’s Apart feat Aleisha Edwards” by Jeremy James Whitaker and Aleisha Edwards. Robin’s voice is soulful and drips with amber colored honey. Aleisha’s voice has a sharper edge than many current sounding artists, which adds an interest to the ear.
It is clear that the sentiment from the artists on this compilation album are towards creating music that reflects the kingdom of God using a newer medium of sound. For the EDM lover, the sounds and lyrical content move towards a love in Jesus that will satisfy the craving of something more worship oriented.
Should you?
This is a hard question to answer.
The album is good.
The intentions of the artists are good.
Where it unsettles us a little bit is the agreement between His Creation Records and the artists who have submitted their songs to be a part of this compilation.
Yes. It takes money to promote.
Yes, it takes money to create music.
But the artists are basically handing over a song to a company and the company takes all the royalties from the sales and the artists see nada, and it’s mis appropriately called an exclusive license. Their version of an ‘exclusive license’ means that they are the only ones who can sell and trade the music see here. A non exclusive license would allow them to license the music to another non exclusive library for possible sync fees and royalties. Is this fair? I’m going to say that it’s not fair. Most credible music libraries that offer an exclusive license take 100% of the publishing and give the creator(s) 100% of the writing royalties, even when they do compilation albums. Meaning there’s really 100% total that’s split into 50/50, which whatever total royalties are collected half goes to the publisher and half goes to the writers. PROs like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc make sure that royalties collected get distributed evenly, acting as a third party between the publisher and writer(s). I know, I know, we’re dragging in stuff that only music business people want and need to know, but you as a consumer should be aware of as well.
The reason that many artists are not creating music, or don’t feel like investing in their study of music, is because they aren’t being paid to create. The term you get what you pay for comes to mind.
The reward rarely breaks even. It is the rare few that pull a profit. Nehemiah 13:10 speaks of the musicians and the Levites who worked in the temple who abandoned their post because they needed to go feed their families and went back to their fields to do so, because they weren’t getting paid. Because making music takes a lot of time and artists need to pay bills and eat.
Back to the question,
Should you purchase?
We’ll leave that up to you, but you can stream it for free on Spotify here:
Click on Image Below to download The Sound of His Nation Vol. 1
