“This is the soundtrack to wrestling faith…it’s not shiny, it’s not polished, but if you’ve been on a faith journey maybe it’ll speak to you. Maybe it’ll be your permission slip to ask the same kind of questions and to explore this kind of risky, real, raw faith.” – Chris Llewellyn
Chris Llewellyn, the Irish singer/songwriter and founding member of the platinum-selling worship band Rend Collective, releases Honest (courtesy of Capitol CMG), his first solo project, today. With twelve Celtic-rooted songs as “the soundtrack to wrestling faith,” Llewellyn musically explores life through a raw lens of honesty and inquisitiveness. A video for “Still Believe In The Magic” also released today, which can be viewed below. Click HERE to listen to Honest.
“Will God love you if you’re honest? Is He faithful when you’re faithless?” Chris Llewellyn best explains about his album. “These are the questions that I was asking when I was writing this album. It comes from a time in my life that was deeply full of struggle…when I got a medical diagnosis for my son that changed our lives as a family forever and changed my faith forever. And that’s what this is – this is the soundtrack to wrestling faith.”
He continues, “This album is me reading my diary to you out loud – no filter. It’s full of hope and doubt, hurt feelings and conflict, yet, ultimately, faith. Not a shiny airbrushed faith, but something weathered, tested, and durable. It’s my hope that by ‘oversharing’ I can offer you a permission slip to ask your own bold questions. Because my story, and I believe the story of the Bible, is that the only kind of faith worth having comes when we take the risk of being honest.”
Chris Llewellyn is inspired by many known storytellers from his homeland, a list that includes Van Morrison, Glen Hansard, Foy Vance, and U2, with his music and songwriting best described as alternative pop and Americana joined by live looping performances. He is now based in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Gabriella, and their three children. Find out more on Instagram.
Honest tracklisting:
- Honest
- Gamble On Your Goodness
- Still Believe In The Magic
- Naive
- Can’t Quit You
- Beautiful Mystery
- Mother’s House
- Toxic
- New Wine (Is My Bible A Barricade)
- I’m Not Losing My Faith
- Can You Be Trusted