Contact: Kelcee Marcum, OCP, 503-460-5358

PORTLAND, Ore., March 3, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- With five solo albums under his belt, Josh Blakesley is no longer a newcomer in the contemporary Catholic music world. This time around he joined forces with his guitarist Grae McCullough to bring us Mass of Restoration, a new Mass setting for contemporary liturgy that is joyful and approachable, yet fresh, dynamic and expressive.

The pair sought to create a setting that honors the history of music and the traditions of the Church that would still appeal to today's parishioner. "Knowing Josh's strengths as a musician and songwriter, we were excited to offer this setting to parishes. As expected from Josh and Grae, the result of their work is a singable, well-written and comprehensive setting for any congregation," explained Rick Modlin, manager of music development at OCP.

In talking about his approach to writing music, Josh explains, "I believe that God inhabits the praises of his people, and people are being moved by powerful refrains, repetitive bridges and intimate lyrics—much in the way I'm sure 'Ode to Joy' affected assemblies when it was introduced as a hymn in the early 1900s."

The accompaniments include vocal harmonies and keyboard and guitar parts, making it accessible for many different ensembles. The MP3 album is all acoustic—and truly stunning. To offer a glimpse of the simple beauty of Mass of Restoration, Josh, Grae and their bandmates, Blake Powell and Christian Gaudet, have made a series of videos for each of the Mass parts. Watch them here.

Mass of Restoration is one of more than 60 new and revised Mass settings OCP has published since the implementation of the updated texts from The Roman Missal, Third Edition in November 2011. The settings range in style from traditional and chant to contemporary, multilingual and more. Learn more about Mass of Restoration as well as OCP's other Mass settings at ocp.org/mass-settings.

For more information or media requests, please contact Kelcee Marcum at kelceem@ocp.org or 503.460.5358.

About OCP
OCP, a not-for-profit publisher of liturgical music and worship resources based in Portland, Oregon, has been in operation for more than 90 years. Worship programs produced by OCP are used in over two-thirds of Catholic churches in the United States and are distributed worldwide. Find OCP on Facebook at Facebook.com/OCPmusic.