Joel Caws - The Story Behind House Of Praise
Joel Caws is a worship leader & songwriter based in Southampton, UK. In this guest blog for Louder Than The Music, Joel explains the story behind his new five-track EP, 'House Of Praise' - a collection of songs born from Scripture, shaped by personal experience, and centered on choosing praise in every circumstance.
When a friend asked me in January 2025 what my music plans were for the year, I had no idea that my answer would start me on a journey that would take me almost 18 months. The songs I have written over that time have been some of the most challenging songs I have ever written.
I realised that the words, ‘I’m going to write a praise EP’ that sprang from my mouth that day were more a prophetic statement than something I had any previous idea or intention to do. Over the weeks that followed I began to prayerfully dwell on those words and I sensed that God wanted me to press in and work on writing 5 upbeat praise songs to release as an EP.
Over the past 18 months I've realised that I find writing upbeat songs hard! I'm not sure if that's just me but I've always found writing slower ballads comes fairly easily but ‘up the tempo’ and I struggle to find words to fit and melodies that work!
I persevered and finally, my new praise EP 'House of Praise' is out on 31st July 2026 featuring 3 brand new tracks to accompany the 2 singles I have already released over the past couple of months.
The main theme behind the EP just seemed to develop naturally. As we go through life, it’s easy to praise God in the good times but much more challenging when things don’t seem to be working out, difficult or painful. This unintentionally became the central idea behind each song. The EP is written out of a desire to praise God for those things that never change like His goodness and His faithfulness; those unchanging aspects of God that stay the same though all the highs and lows of life.
Here’s a full run down of the EP tracks with a brief story behind each:-
We Give You Thanks
This song is essentially built around the first verse of Psalm 118 - the idea that we bring our thanks to God just because He is good. Some of the lyrics in the song, particularly in the verses are taken directly from other places in this Psalm too.
Lift You Up
This song is a celebration continuing the theme of praising God for His goodness. There is a particular focus here on how Jesus paid the price for us, His victory and how we find freedom in Him. That has to be the ultimate reason to praise God no matter what else is happening around us!
Nothing But Praise
The themes of this song are built around God being worthy of our praise even in difficult seasons, when walls surround us and we feel there is no way out. In those times it has to be a conscious decision to praise as we most likely don’t feel like it because of our circumstances. The chorus lyrics speak of praise being something we have to give our attention to and are also an intention; that is to say, we choose to praise even if we don’t feel like it, like in Psalm 42:11.
Wake Up My Soul
This song is essentially a response to Psalm 148 which calls all creation to praise God. It’s a call to lift up our voice in praise for His goodness from the moment we awake in the morning. It can also be a song for those times when we feel spiritually asleep; a prompting for our own souls to wake up and praise God even though we might not feel like it.
House Of Praise
When I wrote this song, I had a vision of a whole church gathering lifting up their voices and hands in praise to God - that sense of corporate togetherness and unity. I love those moments in church, when it feels like everyone is caught up in His presence, singing as one and giving praise to Him! I wanted to craft a song that expressed that. This song became the central theme of the EP, the title track and inspiration for the cover art.
My prayer is that these songs will draw individuals and congregations alike to fix their eyes on Jesus and give Him praise for His goodness in every situation.
‘House of Praise’, the EP is out now on all music streaming services.
