Singer/songwriter Jodi King and her husband, bassist Chris Rademaker, know the feeling of watching the sun set in California. Windows down, U2’s The Joshua Tree blaring on the radio, they’ve felt the rush of warm, dry wind as they cross the desert in the direction of the neon lights of the city. The duo, known as Love & The Outcome, set out to recreate the feeling of that unforgettable setting on These Are The Days, their long-awaited sophomore effort. “There’s something about California,” Jodi says. “These songs just felt like a sunset there. It felt like dust, like a desert, so we knew this where we needed to start making the record.” It was in 2013 that Love & The Outcome debuted their self-titled album with Word Records, and they soon became a mainstay at Christian radio. They toured all over the U.S. and Canada, sharing the stage with artists such as Newsboys, Switchfoot, Lecrae, TobyMac, Jeremy Camp and Francesca Battistelli. But to get there, Jodi and Chris had to walk through a spiritual desert. For years leading up to their first album, they maintained a grueling touring schedule, sold their house and possessions, said goodbye to Chris’ mother after a battle with cancer, and hit pause on their promising careers. Yet after many painful stops in their journey, they felt the pull to keep going. They relocated to Nashville from Canada, bought a house, had their first child, and got back on the road.
“The Lord had so clearly led us to this land, literally to Nashville,” Jodi says. “I’m sure it’s how Abraham and the Israelites felt. We’ve literally gone through the desert to get to this season of celebration.” Jodi and Chris have come a long way since selling their condo in Canada in 2010. Jodi was a solo artist, riding on the acclaim of her just-released debut LP, Little Smile, when Chris began to fill in on guitar at select shows between gigs with his band, The Attics. After the Attics folded, Jodi and Chris saw an ideal opportunity to start fresh as Love & The Outcome. Now, the two are truly coming into their own as a band and as a couple. Produced once again by Colin Munroe and Grammy Award winner Seth Mosley, the songs on These Are The Days are meant to be experienced as a whole project, which shows their maturity as musicians. “We wanted it to play like a record,” Jodi said. “We really wanted it to play from top to bottom.”
Blending 80’s pop with a relevant and fresh sound, the new album plays on a variety of influences that inspire both Chris and Jodi, including U2, The Police, Coldplay, Bleachers and Tame Impala.
Lyrically, the songs mix worship, praise, celebration and declaration. In “Ends of the Earth,” Jodi sings, “I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth / Lead me through the wasteland / No, I’ll never look back.”
It picks up where their first album left off and leads listeners into a place of plenty. “That first record was really our road trip record,” she continues. “That had been our life, and faith really looked like living on the edge. Going into this record, faith looks like resting and waiting while the Lord goes ahead of us.” After experiencing such difficult loss and uncertainty, they had a hard time letting their guard down to celebrate the new good things God was providing. “The first record was created out of a lot of hardship and a lot of pain,” she says. “You didn’t feel the joy as much, you felt the struggle – and that’s okay. The promises were true. We lived them.
This record is a celebration season, and we have to really let the music sound like that. These are moments to celebrate and let the smile show a little more.” And there is plenty to smile about.
“These are such wonderful new days for us,” Jodi says. “The amount of gifts He’s literally put in our laps since album one -- there have been moments we didn’t feel like we had to work for anything. He’s provided big time for us.”
The biggest gift is their son, Milo, born in February 2016. “Our season is so marked by Milo and it’s just completely different than the first time we made a record.” “I think so many of the lyrics are imaging everything through his eyes,” Chris says. Jodi calls “The God I Know” the anthem of her newfound motherhood: “Hands up, worries down / I remember when He showed me how to / Break up with my doubt.”
“Being a new mom, that lyric is an everyday prayer that I’m living,” she says. “I’m just surrendering to Him so much and asking for strength. It’s also a reminder that the Gospel is good news. I wanted this record to feel like rolling down your windows, singing along, letting your hair down, letting your worries float away into the hands of Jesus.” Chris’ favorite track is “Galaxies,” co-written with Benji Cowart and Jordan Sapp, and borrows from his 80s influences and newer bands he’s listening to. “Musically, it’s just really special,” he says. “There are some really cool creative parts that we came up with in the studio, and the lyrics borrow from the poetry of Isaiah: “Your ways are far beyond my ways / Your thoughts are far beyond my thoughts / And still you say I’m always on Your mind / Your words turn into galaxies / Your love is holding gravity / And still you say I’m always on Your mind.” That sense of wonder and awe at the hand of God moving in their lives weaves throughout the album, as it invites listeners to join them on the journey of seeking God together.
In the worship chorus of “Gates,” co-written with GRAMMY Award winner Francesca Battistelli and Casey Brown, they sing, “I will run through the gates / With thanksgiving and praise / Into the place where freedom’s found / Where all my fears come crashing down / I will run through the gates.”
As they navigate life as new parents with a growing music career, they’re learning to live in the moment, trust God and rest in His peace, no matter where the road leads. They sing on title track: “Don’t want to miss, miss / The moment slip away / It’s a gift, a gift / Every breath we take …. Yesterday is gone / Tomorrow may not come / We’re only given one chance to live.”
“The road has been really long actually and with a lot of stops, like some joy stops, some pain stops,” Jodi says. But at the end of the day, when the sun sets, they can look at each other and know, “we were meant to do this together,” Chris says.
