- I Belong to You
- Lovely Day
- I Can Only Imagine
- Return to You
- I Will Be Your Friend
- I Trust in You
- Above All
- Jesus Freak
- I Will Not Fear the Fire
- Reason for Being
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
- The Heart of Worship
As rightly noted by a friend of mine, Chillout would be a horrible name for a band. Fortunately, it refers to a genre of music similar to modern new age that's been popularized in Europe, as anyone familiar with Delerium, Groove Armada, Moby, and Chemical Brothers will attest. Now it also represents a series of worship albums that serve as the foundation for the newly established Waterfront record label.
This is being marketed as something new and unique to Christian music, but it's actually been introduced to America over the last five years. We've already witnessed releases from Apt.Core, Rivertribe, Andy Hunter°, 2001's
Here's where things differ between other chillout projects, mainstream and Christian. While this series is more relaxed and true to the spirit of the genre than other Christian projects, it doesn't rely on original material.
Using well-known songs in this way is not a bad idea. Unfortunately, most tracks consistently borrow a single line from the original melody to set it up, only to continue with the same lyrics set to an altered melody. It's one thing to abandon song structure for the sake of creating atmosphere, but these songs are virtually unrecognizable—isn't this a form of false advertising? Other tracks modify the words ever so slightly to fit a mainstream song into a worshipful context. There are plenty of other projects available that do a better job than this. The Chillout albums succeed in creating a relaxed musical ambience conducive to worship, study, and work, but expect to be disappointed if you're looking for an album of varied sounds or familiar favorites.