Family. It comes in all shapes and sizes. No matter how far we are from home, we all long for a place to belong and a circle of like-minded people to call our own. Family is all worship band Leeland has ever known.
Raised on a steady diet of southern gospel and traditional church music, Leeland Mooring and his brother and sister toured with their parents when they were growing up in Baytown, Texas. As they got older, the siblings stepped out on their own to write and record under the moniker Leeland. A major label record deal, four GRAMMY® nods, eight Dove Award nominations, a slew of radio hits, four albums and two EPs later, the meaning of family has been redefined for the group as they release their fifth studio project, Invisible (Bethel Music).
With a current lineup comprised of Mooring and Casey Moore, Leeland feels like they’re finally coming into their own as musicians and as people. Casey connected with the band six years ago at a music festival and has been playing with them ever since, quickly becoming a welcome addition to the group and a brother to Leeland. Now, after a decade of writing, recording and touring, the members of Leeland not only have a new album but also a new family with whom to share this next chapter of their storied career.
A NEW SEASON WITH BETHEL MUSIC
From his early years making music with his siblings to forming a brotherhood with his bandmates, family has been a theme, and a solid foundation, the frontman didn’t even realize was significant in his story. However, when he rekindled a friendship with Bethel Music’s Brian Johnson through a songwriting endeavor, Leeland began to realize Bethel Music might just be a family where he could belong.
“Through the years, we were just big champions of everything—of their heart and what they were doing,” Leeland says of Bethel. “If anything, I just wanted to have relationship and friendship…in this new season, feeling unsure and walking into new territory.”
Despite the fact that the members of Leeland all now reside in Nashville, a partnership with Bethel naturally fell into place. After officially signing with Bethel Music in 2015, the band has comfortably integrated into the respected worship collective’s tours, conferences and events. Most of all, the group has quickly identified with the heart behind Bethel’s ethos.
“We’ve seen the vision in Bethel Music’s church—their heart for the world and for the kingdom—and it just resonates with us; and so we’re championing that,” Leeland shares, adding, “I feel like it’s a residual relationship, where not only are they lifting our arms up and encouraging us to keep going and to venture out into new territory; but, at the same time, we’re also getting excited and encouraging them and lifting their arms up in whatever way we can.”
FINDING MUSICAL IDENTITY
With the support of Bethel Music, Invisible—Leeland’s first full-length project in nearly five years—cements the band’s musical identity as it showcases colorful pop melodies that recall their acclaimed 2006 debut, Sound of Melodies. However, Leeland admits establishing their identity has taken nearly a decade of discovery and personal growth.
“It takes years to find out who you are musically and what your passions are and what kind of artist you want to be and what kind of person you want to be,” Leeland offers. “It took us years.
“For a long time, my identity was in music and the success of our band,” he admits. “I was so affected by the ups and downs of a music career, and I was so affected by what people thought.”
With all of the transition that has shaped the last few years, Leeland and Casey are entering a new season with fresh perspective and an identity firmly rooted in Christ.
“The Bible says, ‘To know the love of Christ is to be filled with the fullness of God.’ And I think we’re experiencing that more and more with every passing day,” Leeland shares. “Our identity is just getting uprooted from music, uprooted from ministry, uprooted from all the good things. You can’t really enjoy them until your heart isn’t rooted in them. When our identity’s rooted in Jesus, we can really enjoy music; we can really enjoy ministry… We can finally, whole-heartedly be exactly who we want to be with no fear.”
They also now define success by a different barometer. “Success is knowing Him,” Casey maintains. “We know our identity is not wrapped up in what we do. We can really live in freedom and just be ourselves… I hope this record really speaks that message to a lot of people, just that their identity can be rooted in knowing they’re a son or a daughter of an amazing Father who loves them so much.”
The title track gives voice to the story of every believer’s relationship with an unseen God, encouraging listeners that they’re not overlooked. Inspired by the narrative of Thomas, the song serves as a reminder that the invisible God is real.
“He’s not a religion, and He’s not a theology. He’s a person,” Leeland concedes. “He’s not looking for lawyers to debate His existence; He’s looking for witnesses. He wants to encounter us with the reality of His love, and then out of that encounter of Him revealing Himself to us…then we become this witness where we just say, like Thomas, ‘I’ve felt Him. I’ve touched Him. I’ve heard Him. He’s real to me.’”
THE MAKING OF INVISIBLE
Invisible was recorded in Franklin, Tenn., with producer/songwriter Kyle Lee at the helm. Kyle produced and engineered Leeland’s 2014 live EP, Christ Be All Around Me, and forged a special relationship with the band. For this album, Kyle, Leeland and Casey simultaneously built the sonic skeleton for each track as they wove together lyrics. They then sent preliminary demos to the rest of the musicians for them to tweak their individual parts before gathering in the studio days later to record.
“Every day flew by because we were having so much fun making music and also really connecting with it,” Leeland says. “It was the coolest process. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to record a record any other way. I’m sort of ruined now.”
This unique tracking process resulted in a project that’s both lyrically profound and musically inventive with songs set to inspire a broad spectrum of multi-generational worshippers. Leeland’s celebrated songwriting, rich in theological truth, is evident throughout.
THE SONGS
“Lion and the Lamb,” an anthem co-written with Johnson and Brenton Brown, was undoubtedly God-breathed. The band was leading worship in California years ago when Leeland says the chorus literally fell from heaven as he played piano quietly during a prayer time at the conclusion of the service. On multiple occasions, he attempted but failed to complete the song with other writers.
“I tried writing with two other people on it, and it just didn’t really work out. They didn’t seem too excited about it, and I wasn’t going to force it, so I just kept it close to my chest and was waiting for the right person to write it with—someone I connected with,” Leeland shares. Brenton Brown became that trusted co-writer after Leeland shared the initial lyrics with him at a songwriter’s retreat. Following their co-write, Leeland texted Johnson for his additional input.
“I felt so uninvolved in the song. The song just kind of happened to me… But those are the best ones, I feel like,” Leeland admits. “It’s been a special journey getting to watch that song have a life of its own.”
Elsewhere on Invisible, the Redding, California collective’s fingerprints abound as their influence connected Leeland with Bethel’s renowned stable of writers for the first time. “Over the years, we’ve gotten to write with a lot of co-writers, but what’s been so cool is getting to see the heart behind all the writers at Bethel because they carry something different; they carry something unique,” Leeland asserts.
Passionate track “Perfect Love” features the poetic contributions of budding lyricist Steffany Gretzinger, while “Beloved” was written in Australia with Darlene Zschech, whose music had a massive influence on Leeland and his family growing up. “It felt less like a songwriting session and more just like a worship time together,” he says of the co-write. In addition, powerful cross-centered ballad “Son Was Lifted Up” provides a standout moment of worship that focuses on Christ’s sacrifice, with an assist from Johnson.
All in all, Invisible feels like a fresh beginning for a band who’s spent the last 10 years honing their craft, refining their identity and using their gifts for the glory of God. Now, after a little wandering, they’ve finally found a new home and a family with which to share the journey.
“I feel like with this album, we’ve finally come back to who we were meant to be—and not just musically, but with the heart of the songs. All the songs talk about identity and who we are in Christ because that’s what God’s been speaking to us,” Leeland offers. “We don’t feel like we’re doing all this for God now; we feel like we’re doing it with Him. We’re just enjoying the ride with Him.”
http://leelandonline.com/ BethelMusic.com Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
(Hoganson Media Hendersonville, TN)
