Integrity Music announces the signing of worship artist and songwriter Joel Auge and the June release of his solo debut On The Blue.

Auge (pronounced "Ozhay") hails from Ontario, Canada, where the 29-year-old serves as a worship leader for The Meeting House family of churches and also runs his own digital marketing company, HitGrab, Inc.  Although On The Blue marks his solo debut, Auge is not new to Christian music. He has been performing and recording since 1999 with the bands Capstone, Six Days and Hewit. 

While with Capstone, he traveled North America and the UK opening for artists such as Audio Adrenaline and Delirious and serving as a World Vision artist associate. The band also released two CDs, Integreality and Undone, and appeared on the CD Worship Together - Live From Canada.  While with Six Days, Auge released an EP in 2003. And, with Hewit, he released a project in 2005 that produced songs used in Canadian TV shows and made-for-TV movies.

For On The Blue, Auge stays true to his worship calling, delivering 12 songs that are vertically inspired and deeply introspective. All are delivered on a canvas of art-rock, folk and pop by Auge, whom Artist Development Director Jeff Quimby calls "one of the strongest vocalists I've heard in a long time."

Auge says of the project, "I wanted it to be an authentic reflection of my heart, to say real things to God and not 'pretty it up.' These are truth songs. Hopefully, they will stretch people's hearts and minds while they're worshiping Jesus. And, if they land in a 'congregational worship' context or a 'personal worship' context, that's fine. as long as they spill truth."

In preparation for its June 3 release, Auge invites fans to help choose the album cover for On The Blue by voting for one of three options at his myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/joelauge.  Voting ends midnight, Feb. 25 with the winning cover to be announced at a later date. (Voters who register will receive a free song download on street date.)