The Museum readies sophomore release

BEC Recordings’ The Museum is gearing up for their sophomore label project, My Only Rescue, set to release on August 28.  This album follows the well-received debut Let Love Win (2010), which delivered two hit singles: “My Help Comes from the Lord” and “Allelujah.” In addition to the radio airplay, The Museum received rave press reviews as well as grew their fan base with their constant touring over the last two years.

Refocused in their calling and purpose, the band concentrated on writing as a group as well as working with just one producer, Pete Kipley (Phil Wickham, Matthew West, MercyMe). Through their dedication to bring the best possible songs to life on My Only Rescue, The Museum accomplished exactly what they set out to do.

“We are called to write songs for the church,” front man Ben Richter adds. “Whether they are heard on the radio, at one of our shows, or on the album, we hope that our purpose rings out loud and clear.”

Beyond improved sonics and musicianship, Richter believes that the new album takes the band a significant step further in both their creative and spiritual calling. The first single, “Love Will Find You,” which goes for adds at radio on Friday, June 1, was written months earlier for a friend who felt impossibly distant from God due to personal mistakes and sin. The song’s relevance was confirmed when the band travelled to the Philippines with Compassion International.

“There we were, after multiple long flights, a two hour van ride, a ferry ride, and then a rainy ride on boats so small only four people could fit on each one – to get to an island with just four families on it. We were literally on the other side of the world, and God was already there. Although we had written the lyric months earlier, we knew this would be the theme of the record.” Click here to listen to this debut single.

The band’s passion for bringing God’s love to the ends of the earth is evident in their partnerships with the poverty relief agency Compassion International and the anti-slavery ministry Not For Sale (NFS). The Museum also penned a theme song for that NFS (“Not For Sale”) featured on the new release.

The Georgia based is actually named after a revolution. During a 2008 musical mission trip to Romania, drummer Josh Kirk found himself at a ceremony commemorating the end of Communism in that country twenty years earlier. “There was a small, humble museum near the square that told the story,” he recalls. “Turns out it was a group of Christians that actually brought about that political and social revolution.” Twenty years later the political changes were celebrated but the spiritual center of the revolution had been mostly forgotten. Kirk saw little evidence of Christian influence in the culture. “That little museum remained though,” he adds, “offering a glimpse into the kind of faith that can turn a nation upside down.”

Shortly thereafter Kirk teamed up with singer and songwriter Ben Richter to form a modern pop band that would explore the big themes of their lives – faith, justice and worship – with an eye toward waking the church to the incendiary role it should be playing in the world. Two additions to the duo rounded out what is now The Museum with bassist Chris Brink joining in 2010 and guitarist Loyd Rieves in 2011.

The Museum released their BEC Recordings’ label debut, Let Love Win, in 2010.  The band has been featured in media outlets such as CNN Religion, Blogcritics, CBN News, CCM Magazine, HearItFirst, Plan B Blog – Pastor Pete Wilson, NewReleaseTuesday and Youth Walk.

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