Ian’s sixth album, released in two parts - Part 1 (June 24th 2022) and Part 2 (Sept 30th 2022) ‘Between the Joy and the sorrow’ is a collection of honest songs of living in the tension of life's joys and sorrows.

Musically, Yates found inspiration in a number of singer/songwriters including, 70’s folk singer Nick Drake, Foy Vance, Alexi Murdoch, Bob Dylan and the ‘Nebraska’ album from Bruce Springsteen. Many of the songs are stripped back musically focusing on the lyrical content.

Yates says, ‘I wanted to write really honest songs, I’ve always tried to write songs of truth and authentic songs of hope. These songs are born out of the last two years as we’ve navigated this pandemic. Throughout this time I have come back to a simple trust in God. Often I found myself disappointed with the things I’d seen. I found myself getting frustrated and lost in the opinions of people, the many perceptions of God, the incorrect prophecies, the politics and politicians. But at the end of the day I’m only responsible for myself and I had to look at myself and say, am I living a life of true devotion and worship? Am I living the way of Jesus? There’s a lot of strong voices out there and am I listening to Gods voice? Over the last 2 years I’ve felt like I’ve been living in the tensions of God’s faithfulness and provision, yet facing struggles and wrestling with the things I’d seen. My prayer is that these songs bring hope to those who have been disillusioned and remind those who have been disappointed that there is a light in the darkness, there is a Father who loves his children.

Ian is a Christian worship leader and songwriter from Liverpool, UK. He leads musical worship at his home church Bootle Elim and is part of Elim Sound, the national worship department for the Elim movement. Ian is married to Kate, they have 3 young children, Jackson, Elijah and Abiah. 

His 2014 album DNA reached number 5 in the Official UK Christian Chart and won contemporary album of the year in NFN’s annual awards. In 2015 he co-wrote the song ‘No Longer I’ with Matt Redman which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London on Redman’s ‘Unbroken Praise’ album. In 2016 his song ‘Highwire’ reached number 1 in the UK Christian ‘AStep Fwrd’ chart. His 2020 album ‘Mystery’ was received with glowing reviews and his song ’Loved By You’ from that album has been streamed well over a million times.

Ian is set to release his sixth studio album ‘Between The Joy And The Sorrow’ this year in 2 parts. Part 1 is due out on June 24th with part 2 to follow later in the year. The album will also be available in Apple Music’s Spatial Audio format and Dolby Atmos on Amazon and Tidal. Once again Ian has teamed up with producer Trevor Michael (Snow Patrol, Matt Redman, Delirious, Tree 63, Martin Smith) for what 7Core Music believe to be not only a stunning collection of well-crafted songs, but presented as two exceptional albums that fit together as a single work of art. Ian is not afraid to ask the big questions many of this generation have found themselves asking over the last few years with a maturity and honesty many of us lack, proving himself to be one of the finest artists and songwriters in the present UK Christian and Gospel music scene.