Mountains Move

Personnel: Kristian Stanfill (vocals, guitar); Matt Melton (guitar); Davis Harwell (keyboards, programming); Joe Thibodeau (drums, programming); Jason Ingram (programming, background vocals); Rusty Varenkamp (programming); Kate York (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: F. Reid Shippen.
Recording information: Conservatory Park.
Editors: D. Thomas Toner; Rusty Varenkamp.
Photographers: David Molnar; Mary Caroline Mann.
Kristian Stanfill has picked up the mantle of Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder with his buoyant, contemporary worship. Literally and figuratively the new face of the Passion Movement, Stanfill raises his star even higher on the long-awaited Mountains Move. His effervescent rock hits on all cylinders. A new listener who's never heard modern praise music could pop this disc in and completely "get it" within minutes because of how Stanfill's sound embodies the vision of the genre: a focus on the message in singable snippets that are catchy enough to stick in the heads of listeners without ever straying too far from the musical formula. Participating in the national collegiate Christian concert circuit since 2005, Stanfill had been groomed by Passion founder Louis Goglio and the aforementioned Six Steps records labelmates to lead the next charge. "Mountains Move" is about projecting the positive, energetic face of the faithful life with an air of celebration. Stanfill claims to be strongly influenced by the "spiritual side" of U2, which may also explain the influence of the Edge's renowned guitar artistry on tracks such as the arena rock anthem "Like a Lion," which could easily pass as a track off Bono and crew's early albums Boy or October with its sweeping guitar manifestos. On the softer side, "We Glorify Your Name" is destined to become a congregational classic. As long as Passion events continue to fill up stadiums, there will be demand for this type of corporate worship. ~ Jared Johnson