London duo THE DAWN have brought an eclectic mix of styles to their debut album. Tony Cummings reports.

One of the most intriguing independent releases of the year has been the pop, rock and R&B concoction 'House Of Zion' by husband and wife duo The Dawn. Based in Purley, near London, Vince and Sue Hudson trace their musical origins back to 2003 when both were serving in the praise and worship team at their local church. Vince approached Sue about writing a song for a church album. After recording the song "You Called Me" the twosome felt God's call to write more songs together and this in time grew into the formation of The Dawn. The duo's debut album 'House Of Zion' is defiantly eclectic. Said Vince, "Although the newer material that we're currently being blessed with is starting to define us a little more, I'd have to say that there are many styles on the album. We never intended for this album to be so varied, and there are only two songs on this album that we wanted to use from the past. Most of the songs were written during the album recording. We're still in God's blending machine as with regards to The Dawn having a more defined second album, but hey, God's the ultimate producer!"

The Dawn's short time together has produced a lot of concerts. Commented Vince, "The gigs have been fantastic from our point of view. We weren't sure how the Church in general would respond to The Dawn's first album as the sound and style is very mainstream. As I think we mentioned before the 'House Of Zion' is basically an album of testimonies and experiences from our walk so far. We didn't take the approach that other and more established Christian bands have taken; we just didn't feel that a purely Christian scene was what the Lord was calling us to do. Having said that, I wouldn't say we were prepared to be thrown smack bang in to secular venues either, especially not in the centre of London's Leicester Square, Soho and Camden, not that we're complaining you understand. It's been absolutely fantastic and we've already been booked to play at bigger and more established London venues for the beginning of next year.

I asked Vince to pinpoint a couple of The Dawn's favourite songs from the project. "Well, the first track, "Jesus", glorifies the name of Jesus and boldly states what we are about right from the start! Screaming out the name of Jesus always gets a few interesting reactions! The song 'Be' would have to be another of our favourites. The Lord calls us to be many things; one of the many lessons we've learnt and experienced the hard way is that there are times and seasons in our lives where we are all so busy being busy and that sometimes the Lord will let us go around the same mountain a few times in order to get our attention. He teaches us in Proverbs 3: 5, to trust in the Lord in all things. The chorus reminds us to let him be the rock in our lives, to trust him with everything and if we follow his voice he will set our pathways straight. It also says in Psalm 46: 10, 'Be still and know that I am God.' This song was birthed from that Scripture."

Already The Dawn are well underway with their plans for a second album. Said Vince, "During the production of the first album there were a few challenging moments, but God has been faithful, as he always is and the test and trials are there to be passed, not to fail. So far we've been blessed by the response we have had and are now focusing on bigger and better opportunities."