Rend Collective

Originally formed in Bangor, Northern Ireland, the Rend Collective began life under the fuller name Rend Collective Experiment as a praise-and-worship outfit that functions less like a conventional group and more like an experimental folk-rock collective devoted to spiritual exploration. Their output has remained a fixture on both American and British Christian charts ever since the project surfaced in 2010, with As Family We Go in 2015 and Good News in 2018 claiming the summit of each territory’s listings. Further momentum carried into the following decade through Choose to Worship in 2020 and Whosoever in 2022, while a shorter offering arrived in 2024 with the EP FOLK! (Pt. 1).

The ensemble emerged from a circle of Christian friends intent on aligning faith with the ambiguities of contemporary existence. On the road the lineup centers on drummer Gareth Gilkeson, vocalists Will Herron and Chris Llewellyn, percussionist and keyboardist Ali Gilkeson, horn player and accordionist Bridget Herron, and bassist Patrick Thompson.

Captured primarily inside churches and private residences, the debut full-length Organic Family Hymnal reached stores in 2010 via Kingsway Music, followed two years later by Homemade Worship by Handmade People on the same imprint. Integrity Music then issued the concert recording Soul Survivor & Momentum - Kingdom Come: Live 2012 toward the close of that year and brought out Campfire in early 2013. The Art of Celebration surfaced in 2014, climbing to the upper reaches of the Billboard 200 and the U.K. Top 30, while the seasonal companion Campfire Christmas, Vol. 1 appeared alongside it. The fifth studio effort, As Family We Go, followed in summer 2015, and Campfire II: Simplicity arrived the next year as a direct continuation of the earlier live-in-the-round project.

A career-spanning “mixtape” titled Build Your Kingdom Here was assembled in 2017, after which Good News landed in January 2018 as a deliberate counterweight to prevailing news cycles. Venturing into younger audiences, the collective issued Sparkle. Pop. Rampage. in 2019 under the Rend Co. Kids banner, then returned to a broader listenership the subsequent year with Choose to Worship and the Celtic-flavored holiday collection A Jolly Irish Christmas, Vol. 2. Whosoever, released in 2022, sustained the trademark fusion of folk textures and anthemic Christian rock; an expanded edition of that album appeared late the same year, yielding the 2023 EP Hallelujah Anyway built around one of its tracks. All-new material resurfaced in 2024 with the six-song FOLK! (Pt. 1), whose selections center on themes of devotion and communal connection.