The City Harmonic releases full-length album

Following the release of its acclaimed “Introducing” EP, The City Harmonic returns with its first full-length album, I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), Oct. 18 from Kingsway with EMI CMG Distribution in the US.  In less than a year, The City Harmonic went from being virtually unknown to international acclaim with its debut EP that sparked the unifying hit single and video, “Manifesto,” which has respectively sold over 80,000 copies and been viewed on YouTube by over 900,000 people.  The success has energized the band’s engaging live performances throughout North America while simultaneously gathering thousands of “likes” on Facebook and online endorsements from people like Mac Powell (Third Day), Peter Furler, Matt Redman, Kyle Korver (Chicago Bulls), Seth Smith (Colorado Rockies) and numerous others.

The City Harmonic, consisting of front man Elias Dummer, bassist Eric Fusilier, guitarist Aaron Powell and drummer Josh Vanderlaan, wrote and recorded all of the songs for I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), which was co-produced by the band and Jared Fox.  From the “now but not yet” tension of earthly Christian living heard in much of the album, including the title track and “Mountaintop,” to having hope in the midst of struggle in “Fell Apart” and “Be Still O My Soul,” to dealing with apathy in “Yours” and “Wake Me Up” and living missionally in “Spark” and “Benediction,” the songs take the listener on a poetic journey.

A little over halfway into that journey, track seven’s title song marks a high point that is already being recognized nationally.  The song becomes the first radio single and video from the album, and follows the band’s across-the-board breakout hit, “Manifesto,” which became one of the most played songs on the Billboard National Audience chart and the only song from a new artist this year that has broken into the top 10 of the SoundScan Top Current digital singles sales chart.  Poised to continue the success, “I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home)” is already being heard on stations like WHPZ FM (South Bend, IN), WBVM FM (Tampa, FL), WQME FM (Anderson, IN) and WGRC FM (Lewisburg, PA).

“Martin Luther King spoke of an America where people could be equal, he called people to see that there could be a better way,” muses The City Harmonic frontman Elias Dummer as he talks about the inspiration for the single. “In Revelation 21, God shows John the eventual city of God, the New Jerusalem God creates on earth to bring together Creator and created – a place where things are finally made right and we will no longer need to long for more. The human life is lived in between, and we despair to ‘feel at home.’  This song serves to put us in the mindset of what will be.

“Interestingly, we had a woman approach us at a concert not long ago in tears because this song inspired her while dealing with the loss of a close friend,” adds Dummer.  “The song might be about the ‘not yet,’ but it also helped someone to deal with the ‘now.’”

With the band’s name partly derived from the sense that in communal worship we catch a fleeting glimpse of the world that we pine for, I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) is an organic offering by the band of this hopeful, nostalgic idea.  The album also bucks the trend of many full-length recordings that follow EP debuts, as The City Harmonic’s I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) is all new music, with the additional “Manifesto” radio mix as a bonus track for a limited time only.  The band’s hit EP, Introducing The City Harmonic, will remain a stand-alone offering.

The full I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) track listing follows:

Powerfully delivering the new music and the best-selling single, “Manifesto,” on main stages across the US, The City Harmonic has inspired and unified thousands of festival goers this summer to loudly respond to the pulse and message of the music.  Not as interested in finding fans as they are looking for participants in the journey; “getting people in on the act—hearts pounding and feet moving,” The City Harmonic have already been enthusiastically joined by tens of thousands at events such as Ichthus Festival, Big Ticket Festival, Alive Festival, Sonshine Music Festival, Creation Northwest, Ignite Festival, Kingdom Bound, Soulfest (see fan video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0jSMUdIyas) and more.  The band’s solo concerts are also drawing significant numbers, recently selling out the 1,500-seat Mission Community Church venue in Phoenix (Gilbert, AZ).

The band invites fans to continue the journey with them as they return to Phoenix Sept. 21 to launch the HELLOSOMEBODY tour with co-headliner Aaron Gillespie.  In celebration of this tour, The City Harmonic is giving away their brand new single, “I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home),” as a free download via the promotion at www.hellosomebodytour.com.  The tour is being sponsored by HELLOSOMEBODY in an effort to continue feeding the hungry around the world.  The City Harmonic’s itinerary follows:

* Tour dates subject to change.

More information on The City Harmonic and the band’s touring can be found at:

About Kingsway:

Tracing its music heritage to 1969, Kingsway today is known as a leader in Worship Music. As the creator of Thank You Music, and later in partnership with EMI, its catalogue includes songs such as “Here I Am to Worship,” “In Christ Alone,” “Everlasting God” and “Blessed Be Your Name” to name a few.

Kingsway’s songs are sung in more than 300,000 churches worldwide accounting for over 30% of CCLI’s (Church Copyright Licensing International) bestseller list. With writers and artists like Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, Delirious?, Graham Kendrick and Stuart Townend, Kingsway is dedicated to feeding the Church with songs that will change the world. As the music arm of David C Cook, a non-profit organization located in Colorado Springs, CO, a significant portion of the profits that Kingsway and David C Cook generate are used to provide discipleship and music materials free of charge to church leaders in developing parts of the world who wouldn’t be able to get them any other way.

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Doug Van Pelt

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