Albums : Jason Castro : Only A Mountain
Albums : Jason Castro : Only A Mountain
Listen Ton Jason Castro : Only A
Mountain
Who is Jason Castro?
“I’ve heard it said that music
is the language of the soul,” says internationally-renowned recording artist
Jason Castro. “I think it’s something God created for our souls to be able to
rejoice in.”
Now, as this mellow Texan with
the blue eyes, bright smile, and distinctive dreadlocks prepares to release his
first full-length Word Records album, Only A Mountain, he finds himself with
the chance to rejoice alongside a broad new audience of fellow believers. The
prospect, he says, is thrilling: “This album to me is really kind of a
breakthrough,” Castro confesses. “It feels like this veil has been lifted.”
Produced by Matt Bronleewe, Ben
Glover, and David Garcia, Only a Mountain is set to be released January 15,
2013. Its eleven original tracks – all written or co-written by Castro – are
primed to appeal to fans both old and new, whether they discovered his unique
voice via his captivating run on American Idol, or have found their lives
touched by one of his melodic, heartfelt performances in the years since. The
songs on Only A Mountain are fueled by “the realization that life is
beautiful,” Castro says. “It’s a lifestyle philosophy that I carry: What good
can we do today? How can we be a light in the challenging world in which we
currently live? I feel like I’m coming into my own. This is just my story to
tell.”
Much of that story is now
familiar to millions of people worldwide: Raised in the church by a musical
family of Colombian descent, Castro started drumming at 11, playing music in
the youth ministry, joining his father in leading worship. But despite his musical
background, the notion that young Jason might have a voice – or something to
say with it musically – didn’t really begin to take shape until he hit college
and picked up the guitar. The young drummer who cut his teeth on a steady diet
of Blink 182, Switchfoot, and MxPx found himself drawn to the introspective
sound of singer-songwriters like Ray LaMontagne and Jeff Buckley. “I started
listening to their lyrics,” he says. “And that really captured me. I loved what
the words were doing to me, and I wanted to be able to do that, you know?”
Although he admits the first song he wrote and played for his then-girlfriend
(now wife) was “pretty bad,” he soon gained enough courage to join friends for
some coffeehouse gigs. When he hit the stage for the seventh season of American Idol, he’d
only been singing for a year and a half.
“I don’t know if I ever had an
indication that I was meant to be a musician, or good enough to do it
professionally,” Castro laughs of taking the Idol plunge. “All I really had was
a heart for it.” That heart eventually led him to a fourth-place finish on the
show, where he won consistent critical acclaim for his stripped-down takes on
songs like “Over the Rainbow” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” His laid-back
acoustic style was unlike anything that show’s belting-diva-accustomed audience
had ever seen. “I wasn’t a great natural singer or anything, but I had
passion,” he says now. “For whatever reason, things lined up the way they did,
and I believe there was a bigger reason than things just ‘happening.’ I really
cherish the Idol experience. Sometimes I just laugh, like, ‘Was that real?’”
The success that came next was
even more unbelievable for the soft-spoken and humble Castro: His 2010
self-titled debut on Atlantic Records entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums
chart at No. 18, and spawned the international hit “Let’s Just Fall In Love
Again” – a No. 1 single in Norway, Singapore and the Philippines. Determined to
establish himself with the public as a legitimate performing artist and not
just a TV star from American Idol, he then began touring regularly with his
band and has never stopped.
Jason joined the I Am Second
campaign in Dallas, speaking publicly about his faith for the first time since
gaining national attention, and the Christian community began to take an
interest in his message. Later that year, Atlantic and Word teamed up to
re-release his debut as Who I Am, this time featuring five new faith-based
songs. For Castro, something suddenly clicked. “As I started venturing down
that road, I found a lot of fulfillment,” he says of combining his Christian
faith and music career.
Home, of course, now extends to
around the globe, as Castro and his longtime band have earned their stripes in
countries as far-flung as Singapore and the Philippines. “We get to play in
front of thousands of people singing every word to my songs,” Castro says.
“It’s just crazy – like, these people don’t even speak English. But the thing
that always moves me the most is when someone comes up and tells me, ‘Your
music got me through some heavy times.’ It just blows my mind, the power of
music.” Fans who still remember Castro as a solo acoustic performer might find
their own minds blown a bit when they witness his growth as a live performer –
which now includes plugging in and rocking on the electric guitar. “One of my
early managers told me, ‘You gotta be undeniable,’” Castro says. “When it comes
to music, I believe in that excellence, in every performance. Be undeniable.
I’ve carried that with me every day.”
Castro’s deepening musical chops
are apparent on every track of Only A Mountain, which explodes out of the
speakers with strength, integrity and confidence. “Rise To You” is a
fist-pumping power ballad with a sing-along hook, “Same Kind of Broken” a compelling
and emotional duet with CCM newcomer Moriah Peters, and “Runaway” a straight-up
stunner that showcases how Castro’s vocal talents have blossomed. Songs like
“If It’s Love” exhibit the kind of layered sonic textures Castro picked up from
more recent influences like Coldplay , lending them a fresh and modern sound
likely to appeal to music lovers everywhere, regardless of their spiritual
beliefs. According to Castro, those choices are intentional. “I think as a kid,
sometimes you discredit Christian music because it’s churchy and not cool,” he
says, speaking from personal experience. “I was on a plane earlier this year,
and I had an old dc Talk album on my iPod. I’d heard it before, way back when,
but this time when I pressed play, I was really impressed
by the production. It really
inspired me to think maybe I could reach a kid who’s like I was –who doesn’t
think Christian music is that cool. Maybe I can get him or her to listen to the
music with a fresh approach?”
If anything is going to capture
that young person, it’s the infectious, bouncy, piano-driven pop of the title
track, which also serves as the album’s first single. When co-writers Seth
Mosley and Mia Fieldes brought the song’s theme into their writing session,
Castro says it struck him immediately as exactly the kind of message he wanted
to deliver to Christian radio. “I thought it was a fresh concept,” he says. “It
was inspired by the verse of Jesus telling the Disciples, ‘If anyone has faith
the size of a mustard seed, he can tell this mountain to move from here to
there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible.’ Living that out has just
been huge for me this past year, knowing that there’s no problem too big for
God to tackle. You just gotta have faith.”
For Castro, those five words –
“You just gotta have faith” – currently serve as a kind of creative
centerpiece. “I love ‘Only a Mountain’ as the first single, because I think it
sums up a lot of things that I’ve realized in the past few years,” he says.
“There’s definitely been a lot of challenges and adversity, and those things
have really shaped the album. I’ve found a new life through all of it.” Castro
admits he’s gone through some pretty “monumental stuff” of late – including the
birth of his first child, daughter Madeline, in August of 2011 – but it’s
brought him to an even stronger spiritual place. “I’ve always believed in God
and his power, but I didn’t really have faith, you know?” he asks. “I had this
knowledge, and this acknowledgement, like, ‘God, you’re there, I want you to be
honored and everything... but I’m not ready to give you this.’” He pauses, and
his joy is palpable. “I’ve learned to give it up.”
Be undeniable. Carry the message
of God forward. Have faith. These are the goals Jason Castro has set for Only A
Mountain, and the goals that he has set for his career as a performer – a path
that, in retrospect, seems very much laid out by a greater hand. “What I like
about songs is they take you through a journey,” he says, “and this album is
very much my journey, and what I have found in my journey is just a lot of
hope. I think that’s what comes out in these songs, regardless of where you
come from or where you are in life or what you’re going through. There’s hope
here for everyone.”
Only A Mountain Review
The music industry is
iconoclastic when it comes to American Idols. How many idols of this popular
competitive singing TV show have been toppled over, smashed and crushed? Save
for Kelly Clarkson, Scotty McCreery and Carrie Underwood, many of the alumni
are either stranded on Adult Contemporary isle recycling standards (Clay Aiken)
or facilely changing genres hoping to click somewhere (Rueben Studdard, Diana
DeGarmo and Phil Stacey) or frustratingly struggling with meager sales
(Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks) or left without a major label
recording contract (Taylor Hicks, Lee DeWyze and Kellie Pickler). Coming in as
a contestant in the seventh season of the show, Castro was no carbon copy of
his peers; he was essentially a man of his own. Being the first ever idol to
don his signature dreadlocks, play the ukulele while singing "Over the
Rainbow," sing in three languages, and offer stripped down acoustic
renditions of songs in a notoriously diva-belting show, Castro was not afraid
to parlay his uniqueness. Another defining characteristic about Castro is that
he is also a Christian and he has no qualms singing or speaking of his beliefs.
Though his Christian beliefs were shrouded behind love songs on his debut
record, within a matter of a few months Word records re-launched the album with
5 added faith-explicit tracks. And on this new sophomore CD "Only a
Mountain," God and Biblically-centred issues take a front seat.
Album opener, title cut and the
vanguard single "Only a Mountain" sets the tenor of the album.
"Only a Mountain" is a crisp, catchy and radio friendly pop burner
that muscularly places trust in God without for a moment sentimentalizing
life's struggles. Taking the cue from the words of Jesus from Matt. 17:20,
Castro sings one of the most faith-building songs of the year: "This is
only a mountain/You don't have to find your way around it/Tell it to move and
it'll move/Tell it to fall and it'll fall." Touted as his wife's favorite
song, the Steven Curtis Chapman-like ballad "I Believe" is another faith
edifying strong that effectually calls us back to God in our times of doubts.
"Starting Line" has a distinctive sweetness to it: some of us who
have grown up in the church culture may grow up taking the Gospel for granted
until the day the light broke and we realized Jesus is more than just a
character in the stories taught in Sunday School. "Starting Line"
captures that Kodak moment of that precious divine realization over some mesmerizing
guitar lines and a gorgeously soothing melody.
Never for a moment does Castro
forget that God can still be exalted despite our brokenness. This is the gist
of his duet with CCM's newcomer Moriah Peters. Peters adds her mellifluous
vocals bringing in a universal cry to God for acceptance on this gentle
acoustic guitar driven ballad "Same Kind of Broken." Castro gets more
perspicuous in his definition of brokenness with "Safe House."
Inspired by his visit to a Safe House in Dallas where victims of sex
trafficking were cared for, "Safe House" tells the story from the perspective
of these ladies and how they desperately seek to find "safety" in the
midst of such monstrous atrocity. More real life inspiration comes with 'If
It's Love." A modern multi-layered textured Coldplay modern ballad,
"If It's Love" is birthed from Castro's observation of a travelling
musician who allowed his itinerary to overshadow the things that are really his
life such as his family and God.
One of the most important songs
on this record is "Enough." A beautifully crafted piano ballad,
"Enough" is Castro ode to Madeline (his one year-old daughter)
telling her that she herself is enough for him to love her. Seriously this is
more than just a cutesy song fathers ought to sing to their one year-olds.
Rather, this is the heart's cry of many of our children (regardless of their
age): they need to know that their fathers love them and that they are enough.
This is a song for all fathers to sing to their children regardless of age. On
the whole "Only a Mountain" is an important record: there are themes
about God that needs to be articulated again and again in our faith wavering
society. And there are songs that speak of God's truth in human relationships
that need to be heard if we want to bear greater resemblance to the Son. This
is a much needed disc today in the church and it needs to be widely circulated.
Contact Jason Castro
Contact Breathe Cast
Sources : Jason Castro Photo | Listen To Only A Mountain | Jason Castro Biography | Only A Mountain Review
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