Derek Webb Comes Out With New Record In September

Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Derek Webb will officially release, Ctrl, the highly anticipated follow up to 2009’s Stockholm Syndrome, on September 4, 2012 via Fair Trade Services. However, the always fan community-minded Webb has already made the album available in its entirety on his website, derekwebb.com.

“Ctrl is based on a story I wrote with two of my closest friends, Josh Moore (Co-producer of Ctrl, along with Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome, and Feedback albums) and Allan Heinberg (Writer/Executive Producer of Grey’s Anatomy, 2006-2010),” says Webb. “It’s an album about one man’s desire for something he cannot have because it isn’t real, the journey he goes on pursuing it, and the costs of that journey. But essentially, Ctrl is both personal autopsy and cultural observation about how we use technology to try and control our lives, and my concern that it could ultimately have more control of us.”

Characterized by nylon-string guitar, drum machines and Sacred Harp recordings, Ctrlcombines these unique musical elements to color a sonic landscape and support a lyrical palette that Webb painstakingly crafted along with collaborators Moore and Heinberg. Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States and is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing. Webb interweaves recordings of the four-part harmony, historic, American art form into his compositions on the 10-track album.

Although it’s only been available for a week, Ctrl already has everyone talking, returning rave reviews from fans, blogs & publications alike, exemplified by these excerpts from RELEVANTmagazine’s glowing review:

Rating: 9/10

“A startling…musical conversation that spans three centuries.”

“The clash of sounds–the very old with the very new–hit me in the gut.”

“This album is meant to be probed, explored, wrestled with.”

Ctrl Track Listing: