New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Critically lauded singer, songwriter and author, Audrey Assad, internationally releases her second independent album, Inheritance, Feb 12 on Fortunate Fall Records with Tone Tree
Music distribution. A collection of hymns and original songs that both pay homage to her childhood heritage and to her Catholic faith and charismatic spirituality, three of the album�s tracks are available now to immediately download through a special iTunes pre-order: �Holy, Holy, Holy,� �It Is Well with My Soul� and �Even Unto Death.� The highly anticipated album has also already been pre-ordered by more than 4,000 fans through PledgeMusic.
Approaching all the songs on the new album with a sense of delicate appreciation balanced with artistic integrity, the inspiration for the original song �Even Unto Death,� which was co-written with Matt Maher, came after Audrey heard of yet another martyrdom in the Middle East.
�I thought of the many martyrs around the world, but especially those in the Middle East, and wondered to myself what would be running through my head if I knew my life was about to be taken because of my faith,� Audrey shares. �And so I began to write the song, praying for the martyrs and hoping for even a shred of their courage. That�s something I would want to sing about on Sundays.�
Lover of my soul
Even unto death
With my every breath I will love You
(From the chorus of �Even Unto Death�)
The song �It Is Well With My Soul� is featured on Inheritance as a special dedication to honor Audrey�s late grandmother. �My grandmother Helen's tiny Jersey City apartment was fragrant at all times with the spices of her homeland, because she spent so much of her free time cooking food for her children and grandchildren�any other spare moments were spent praying or painting,� remembers Audrey. �If her tumultuous experiences leaving
Syria and coming to the US affected her daily emotional life, we never knew it�she was a bastion of confidence in God�s providence and a quiet force of stability that anchored us all. When she died, we tearfully sang her favorite hymn, �It Is Well With My Soul� at her funeral, and that song will forever ring out in my heart with her face and her spirit attached to it.�
The album and pre-order also features a cinematic take on Reginald Heber / John B. Dykes� �Holy, Holy, Holy,� which begins in a whisper and ends in a burst of organs and vocals joining together in one triumphal flare of joy. This song, like all the tracks on Inheritance, infuse a modern sensibility with Audrey�s influences to form something entirely new.
�I knew that Inheritance had to be much more than me going into the studio and simply doing pretty renditions of hymns we all know and love,� says Audrey. �I couldn�t be satisfied with that�I had to make something both bright and dark�colored honestly with my own doubts and weaknesses, so that the Lord who inspired these songs could be even more visible in it. Inheritance is an offering I am humbled, privileged and challenged to make�and I pray it will be a gift to anyone who hears it.�
For more information on Audrey Assad and Inheritance, go to www.audreyassad.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.com.
