Here is a nice video of Isaac Wardell explaining some of the compelling vision of Bifrost Arts:
If this vision intrigues you, then check out the conference they are hosting in March 2011:
Here’s a description:
Each week, we tell our congregations a story with how we use liturgy, how we use music, and how we use space in worship. Bifrost Arts has developed a small group and Sunday School curriculum entitled “Liturgy, Music, & Space” to help churches walk through a coherent, biblical view of how these elements of worship are forming us.
Join us from March 29-31 as we present this curriculum at a conference with lectures, workshops, and times of worship in St. Louis, Missouri with:
* Nicholas Wolterstorff
* Bryan Chapell
* Greg Thompson
* Kevin Twit
* Betsy Steele Halstead
* Isaac Wardell
* & The Welcome Wagon.
The curriculum—developed in conjunction with Covenant Seminary—will be unveiled and given away at the conference.
Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace Music, wrote a review of their Christmas album, Salvation Is Created:
This is an exquisitely beautiful record. The string arrangements are lush and creative. The sonic quality of the recording and the mixing is superb. But it is not a light sappy project at all—Thomas Kincaid and his ilk had nothing to do with this music, and for that we can be thankful. Christmas has a context. Jesus came to save His people from their sins and He came to die. Christmas can never be fully understood, or its joy truly felt, without remembering both the longing that preceded it and the cross that Jesus was born to endure.
This is a record that aches with longing and invites us to take off our shoes and lower our voices to a hush as we behold the wonder that is Christmas. I love the absence of bombast in the fabulous arrangements of Isaac Wardell and Mason Neely, and the way the sound envelops you and draws you in. . . . These songs, a great mix of traditional songs, more obscure carols, and brand new Christmas music, do not attempt to bowl you over, but work their magic in subtle ways, inviting you to ponder the great mystery of the incarnation. . . . This record is model of the kind of music Christians should be making, full of deep joy and the heartache of longing.
Here are a couple of free songs you can download (posted with permission). (Fair warning: this ain’t your grandma’s Christmas music!)
Joy Joy!!! (Featuring Devon Sproule and Paul Curreri) [5:15]
[audio:http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/files/2009/12/02-Joy-Joy-Feat.-Devon-Sproule-And-Paul-Curreri.mp3]
Download the mp3 (right-click then “save as”).
Veiled In Darkness (Featuring Matt Bauer and Maeve) [5:19]
[audio:http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/files/2009/12/09-Veiled-In-Darkness-Feat.-Matt-Bauer-And-Maeve.mp3]Download the mp3 (right-click then “save as”).
You can read a bit more about Bifrost Arts at this byFaith Magazine profile, or view their Facebook page.
You can download Salvation Is Created for $7.99 and their first album, Come O Spirit! Anthology Of Hymns And Spiritual Songs Volume 1, for $9.99.
