The City Harmonic’s “Manifesto” Tops 100,000 Copies Sold

Dec. 16, 2011 - PRLog -- The best-selling new artist of 2011, The City Harmonic continues to gather acclaim for its first full-length album, I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home).  The hit single “Manifesto,” featured as a bonus track on the album, has now sold over 100,000 copies, while the album’s title track is No.16 and climbing on the Billboard National Christian Audience chart.  With KLOVE, Air1 and other radio networks playing the song, “I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home)” is also the band’s second video, which has gathered over 35,000 views so far at http://www.youtube.com/thecityharmonic.

Named “New Artist of the Year” by the Gospel Music Association Canada, music fans will be able to hear the band play its hit singles and new music from I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) on the 60-market “God’s Not Dead World Tour” with newsboys that launches Jan 12 and runs coast-to-coast through May 5.  Every week leading up to the launch of this tour, The City Harmonic is giving away 10 pairs of tickets – one pair for each market on the tour – through its Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/thecityharmonic.  To enter the drawing, Facebook participants are asked to ‘share the status’ of the giveaway.  (For a list of all the tour dates, go to www.thecityharmonic.com.)

While on Facebook, people are also encouraged to ‘like’ The City Harmonic’s page.  As a way of saying “thanks” for the ‘likes,’ the band is offering a free download of its hit single, “I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home).”

Hitting No. 1 on iTunes® in Canada, No. 6 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and never leaving the Top 4 on the iTunes Christian/Gospel US chart in its debut week at retail, I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) was also named among the best albums of 2011 by Watchgmctv.com staff, senior music and entertainment editors. Released Oct. 18 on Kingsway with EMI CMG Distribution in the USA, the album has been “wowing” the critics, who are using adjectives like “fabulous,” “infectious,” “exciting,” “spectacular,” “worshipful,” “captivating,” “creative,” “brilliant” and more to describe it.  Here are a few of just the most recent reviews:

“This Ontario-bred [quartet] follows its promising debut EP with a set of songs mixing elements from modern British rock (especially U2 and Keane) with folk and traditional gospel. Frontman Elias Dummer’s crisp, driving keyboards and forceful yet vulnerable vocals set him apart from his peers in worship-oriented Christian rock. With his bandmates, he delivers tunes that range from the anthemic (“Yours,” “Wake Me Up”) to the reflective (“Le Reve,” “Benediction”). “Spark” and “Mountaintop” widen the album’s scope by drawing on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech for both themes and language. Reinforcing the songwriting's quality is the band’s sense of dynamics; tracks like “Be Still, O My Soul” and “Holy (Wedding Day)” display orchestral grandeur as they rise from quiet openings to dramatic crescendos. Piano predominates here, though “Love” is built around a wistful acoustic guitar line. A radio edit of The City Harmonic’s breakthrough tune “Manifesto” adds further heft to an album distinguished by fine craftsmanship and fervency.” – iTunes

“The album is worth more than just a casual listen, as the band has gone to great lengths to produce a record of exceptional songwriting, musicality and style. At a time when many albums are mass-produced and stylistically homogenized, The City Harmonic stands apart for their authenticity and art.” – NewReleaseTuesday.com

“I Have a Dream has big songs fit for big venues… a passionate and hopeful album…a sincere rock-worship album that manages to incorporate the sounds of groups like U2, Coldplay, and Arcade Fire in the best kind of way.” – www.thechristianmanifesto.com

“What makes The City Harmonic stand out from among the worship music glut that floods the Christian market is that this band has created art when they recorded their songs.” – Music Spectrum

In less than a year, The City Harmonic went from being virtually unknown to international acclaim.  Its hit single, “Manifesto,” has become 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 as its companion music video has been viewed on YouTube by nearly 1,200,000 people (http://www.youtube.com/thecityharmonic).  Receiving three Gospel Music Association Canada Covenant Awards this fall, the band is 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 current tour dates follow:

More information on The City Harmonic can be found at:

www.thecityharmonic.com
www.facebook.com/thecityharmonic
www.myspace.com/thecityharmonic
www.youtube.com/thecityharmonic
twitter.com/thecityharmonic