When you ask the guys in Unspoken what it is that their audiences most connect with, they’ll bring it down to a single word. It’s a word that doesn’t have much to do with the unapologetically soulful pop sound they’ve built of skilled musicianship, adventurous production and complex vocal harmonies. It has little to do with the international influences of the band (guitarist Mike Gomez hails from Dominican Republic and drummer Ariel Munoz from Puerto Rico). It isn’t a quality that’s anchored in the success of their first Centricity Music album which sold more than 100,000 physical copies and spawned four top ten singles and a number one as well. And it’s not even a byproduct of their recent success as a headlining act, or their pick for a slot (alongside David Crowder and Steven Curtis Chapman) on the 2016 K-Love Christmas Tour.

The strong bond that seems to turn Unspoken listeners into fans as it turns out, isn’t primarily about the music at all. Instead it’s about their willingness to take the stage together night after night and to put their hearts and lives on display with a raw and engaging honesty. In a word, the band says, the connection is about transparency.

“People just relate better to somebody who has been broken and redeemed,” Mike Gomez notes, “than to someone who pretends to have it all together. What we say from the stage and what we say in our songs, they’re not stories from somebody we heard about. Our songs are written out of places we’ve been and places we are.”

With the release of Follow Through, Unspoken’s second full-length project for Centricity Music, the band seems to have found a place of new freedom to push the boundaries of their trademark sound, mixing in horns and electronic elements in fresh ways without altering the core of their musical identity.  Follow Through picks up where the last record left off, blending hip hop, soul, pop and folk influences to tell the story of the season of life the band members have found themselves in over the last couple of years.

“These new songs came out of a different place from the last record,” Chad explains. “In the past there was so much uncertainty and struggle in our lives that was reflected in our songwriting. Now we’re writing songs that are really gratitude-driven. This new record is joyful and uplifting as opposed to being born out of the grind and the struggle. We’re just grateful for where we are now, for where God has brought us on this journey.”