Up-and-coming singer-songwriter Anita Faye on Friday independently initiated the release of her new album, Kingdom Journey. She describes the new 13-track project as "running the stylistic gamut from smooth jazz and bouncy hip-hop, to swaying reggae, wrapping her mellifluous, multi-octave soprano around each song, imbuing it with a soaring spiritual burst of energy." 

The first single off the new album is the smooth, jazz-inflected piano ballad, "Cast My Cares," which Faye says in an intensely personal confession of faith in the midst of trials. 

"Life isn't always easy," Faye reflects, "and testimony is not always pretty. Sometimes there are tears involved. Sometimes there are crises. Like most folks, I've had my share of hard knocks."

Based in Las Vegas, Nev., Faye's first release was the independent release R U Willing in 2005, which earned her a nomination for Gospel Album of the Year by the International Independent Music Awards. Since then, she has continued to hone her skills as a song crafter and vocalist by sharing the stage with artists such as Martha Munizzi, Kim Burrell, and the Edwin Hawkins Youth & Young Adult Mass Choir, among others.

But Faye says she still feels like a late bloomer who is just now coming into her own. "If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans!" she says. "Our society tends to applaud people who achieve remarkable things at a very early age, but sometimes I think you appreciate things more once you have some life experience under your belt. It makes you more thankful for what you receive, and better prepared to give back to those in need."

That impulse to help, she says, inspired one of the songs on the album, "Angels in Heaven (Vegas Strong)," which she co-wrote with her husband, Robby Thomas as a tribute to the resilient spirit of the people and city of Las Vegas following the 2017 mass shooting.

"We lived in Boston during the time of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, so we already had a sense of how life can change in the blink of an eye," Faye recalls. "We understand how those who are affected by such a senseless act of violence may never be the same. And while no amount of compensation will ever be sufficient for those directly impacted, we felt a deep sense of compassion and wanted to do what we could to honor the victims and encourage our community to persevere in love."

Kingdom Journey is available for download on iTunes now and will be released on all digital music platforms later in September via NiNiTunes, including Amazon.com and Google Play.

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