All Together Separate

Sound, releases and legacy

All Together Separate came out of the late-1990s Southern California Christian music scene with a sound that was broader than the CCM label suggests. AllMusic describes the band’s approach as a blend of funk, blues and rock, while its review of the 1999 self-titled album also points to jazz and soul in the mix. That helps explain why the group could move between guitar-driven rock songs, groove-heavy material and worship settings without sounding like three separate bands.

Their self-titled Ardent Records debut arrived in July 1999. The record included songs such as ‘Paradigm,’ ‘On & On,’ ‘The River,’ ‘Revolution’ and ‘Truth About God,’ and was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The band followed it with Ardent Worship Live, a live worship release connected to their church background, before returning to the studio for Unusual in 2002. Contemporary UK Christian music magazine Cross Rhythms rated Unusual highly and noted that the earlier record had produced significant US Christian-radio songs including ‘Paradigm’ and ‘On And On.’

The line-up associated with the Ardent years was Dex Alexander on vocals, Andrew Shirley on guitar, Charles Rumahlewang on bass and piano, and Ben Rayls on drums and percussion. The musicians’ church and conference roots were part of the band’s identity rather than a separate side of the project: AllMusic records that the group led Bible-study camps and student leadership conferences as well as recording and touring.

All Together Separate’s longest-lasting connection to the wider alternative-rock world came through Andrew Shirley. He began touring with Switchfoot in 2003 and later became a permanent member. That link gives All Together Separate an interesting place in the late-1990s and early-2000s Christian alternative scene: a relatively short-lived band whose mixture of rock, funk, soul and worship music fed into a musician who went on to a much larger international platform.

From the debut to Unusual

The three Ardent releases also show a clear progression rather than three versions of the same idea. The 1999 debut ran for just over 51 minutes across 13 tracks and was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Its song list included ‘On & On,’ ‘Paradigm,’ ‘The River,’ ‘Revolution,’ ‘Something Electric’ and ‘Truth About God.’ The studio credits also underline how much of the band’s identity came from the core line-up: Dex Alexander handled vocals, Andrew Shirley guitar and vocals, Charles Rumahlewang bass and piano, and Ben Rayls drums and percussion.

Ardent Worship Live changed the setting completely. Released in 2000, it was the band’s first live recording and its first project built specifically around praise and worship. The 12-song set was recorded at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside and stretched to more than 70 minutes. Rather than abandoning the group’s rock background, the record placed that sound inside the Southern California worship culture the musicians already knew from church, camps and student conferences.

By 2002, Unusual returned All Together Separate to a studio-rock setting for their third album. Cross Rhythms gave the record a 9/10 review and described a mix that moved through rock while drawing on blues, pop and jazz. The review also highlighted a more introspective and confessional lyrical direction than the earlier releases, while noting that songs from the debut, particularly ‘Paradigm’ and ‘On And On,’ had already gained significant US Christian-radio exposure. Taken together, the three records trace a compact but varied catalogue: an eclectic debut, a substantial live worship set and a more reflective final studio album.