“There are moments of great satisfaction in knowing, and moments of great satisfaction in not knowing.”

A missional force. A musical vanguard. An authentic voice.

These are just a few phrases that characterize the energy, musicality and compelling artistry flowing from one of today’s most beloved worship bands – Starfield. With the release of their new album, The Kingdom, this award-winning brotherhood is aiming straight for the soul once again, confirming why the accolades accompanying their career to date are so well deserved.

When Wonder And Wandering Meet

With the momentum of a prolific songwriting catalog behind them (Rediscover You, Reign In Us, Filled With Your Glory), and the path cut by a visionary new project ahead of them, Starfield is securing its place among the most thoughtful and forward-thinking worship artists of our day.

The Kingdom project reveals the wonder and the wandering so common to the human experience – and so central to Starfield’s writing. Featuring 10 new songs that are designed to stoke the fires of spiritual renewal in the listener, The Kingdom is a vital new addition to their body of worship work – and is about to make its way deep into the heart of the local church. 

 

“We all want to be a part of a big movement,” says lead singer Tim Neufeld. “But I want to get beyond that – I want to be moved. So does everyone else.” Each track on The Kingdom invites the participant to move – to move forward with God in surrender, forward with one another in community, and forward in tenacious mission and lavish worship.

Potent new tunes like “Natural Disaster” and “Innocence (And Other Things Lost)” insightfully explore what it means to be a soul in process. Accessible new worship anthems like “The Kingdom”, “Heart and Flesh”, and the disarming “Just Surrender” will provide today’s worship leaders with effective, devotionally rich tools to share with their congregations. 

Do I Believe It? 

If Starfield’s goal is to become more relevant than cool, more authentic than predictable, they’re succeeding with every passing album. “What do I look for in other artists when I am listening to their music?” Tim asks. “I ask myself ‘Do I believe it?’ Am I moved by the honesty of this expression?’”

No one will doubt that the co-writing brothers behind Starfield’s success are, above all things, honest. In the driving “Natural Disaster”, we are led to see what we can become when disconnected from a relationship with God. “…I’m the Raging Sea, I’m the bending trees, an unstoppable force with a wake of debris; I’m the wind and the rain, the loss and the pain, without You – I’m a natural disaster.”
 

“Innocence (And Other Things Lost)” takes us into what seems to be a journal entry of the postmodern generation: “…Things once certain, I no longer trust, my sure foundations have crumbled to dust; and I would scale the highest height, or search the depths to find – the path to innocence and wonder.”
 

The title track, “The Kingdom”, brings it all together in the bedrock message supporting this brave venture. “The concept of the Kingdom of God is all encompassing,” says Starfield’s lead singer. “It was here before us, and it will go on after us. We find ourselves in it, and it takes the pressure off of us to decide who is ‘us,’ and who is ‘them.’ We don’t have to police the world. The Kingdom frees us to be lovers – to be exactly what Christ has called us to be.”

 

“I want people to connect,” Tim goes on to say. “Our desire, with every passing album and year of life experience, is to be more honest, more transparent, and hopefully more able to formulate the theology present in our albums and songs. Each album is a progression on the same theme – we are wandering on a sojourner’s path that is often without resolution.”
 

Tim sounds a clarion call to the growing Starfield tribe when he says “There are moments of great satisfaction in knowing, and moments of great satisfaction in not knowing. This album captures both.”
 

While some songs on the album explore the deep challenges of being human, Starfield suggests the album also reflects an increased optimism. “We have higher aspirations than we’ve ever had before in an album,” Tim says, “and we have to resist the unspoken pressure to have a more epic and beautiful revelation with every passing record.” 
 

In this way, Starfield continues to target timeless truths, and crafts lyrical melodies that are variations on one central theme – the unrelenting, irresistible Gospel.

 

About their new independence as a band, the front man says “Our label was great to us, and we’re grateful. Artistically though, there is something very cool about knowing you don’t have any ceiling. There is a freedom of expression that comes with being independent, and it has affected our songwriting.” 
 

Writing songs on their own terms, and responding to the One who shapes their destiny as a band, Starfield has given yet another gift to the humble heart intent on pursuing God. 

 

Starfield fans, and soon to be fans, will welcome The Kingdom with open arms. New music from The Kingdom will be incorporated into the band’s live performances in late February/early March, after the album’s release in early 2012.