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In a time when the world is most in need of a soundtrack for evangelism; when 50% of young people have all but abandoned their faith; when religious music has reached an all-time high in popularity, yet still feels stagnant, perhaps we need a priest to guide us.
Father Rob Galea is answering the call for such guidance, as he is back with his 2019 album, Coming Home. We’ve written previously about Fr. Galea’s unparalleled success at merging Catholic music with R&B, but his new album experiments with electronic sounds that give the music an incredibly modern feel. The result is a pop-infused reflection on the young priest’s faith, with great evangelical potential.
The most obvious example of this is his new “Our Father.” The lyrics are the Lord’s Prayer, recited over an electronic arrangement. Although Galea has an outstanding voice, he made use of auto-tune on his vocal line, which gives it that synthetic texture that is almost mandatory in pop music today. He turns this auto-tune off, however, upon reaching the “Amen” section, as though to add heartfelt humanity to the computer-perfected melody.
Our favorite track was “Our God Will Reign / He Reigns,” featured below, which opens with such a trendy arrangement that we thought we were listening to Passion Pit. The song is written in the form of a hymn, with simple melody that one could easily imagine sung by a congregation over an organ.
Fr. Galea is an expert molding melodies that capture the essence of youth culture and merging them with lyrics that are teeming with catechesis. Many of the tracks on Coming Home could be played beside modern radio hits and the differences would only be discernible through the lyrics, but that is perfect for evangelism.
Coming Home has the potential to catch the ear of young people, only to whisper messages of the Catholic faith. As Fr. Galea is a priest and professional music artist, anyone who listens to his music could be considered part of his congregation, and his albums immortalize his homilies in song.
And today we celebrate...