The Darker the Night / The Brighter the Morning is the debut studio album by American Christian musician Cody Carnes. The album was released on September 15, 2017, by Sparrow Records alongside Capitol Christian Music Group and Carnes Music Group. Carnes worked with Jeremy Lutito on the production of the album. Background On February 24, 2017, Cody Carnes released his first single with Capitol Christian Music Group called "The Cross Has the Final Word", with the announcement that his debut solo album will be released in 2017, having signed with the label. The releases of "Hold It All", "Til the End of Time" (featuring Kari Jobe), and "What Freedom Feels Like", as singles followed in April, June and July 2017 respectively. In a press release published on August 14, 2017, Cody Carnes and Capitol CMG announced the release of The Darker the Night / The Brighter the Morning, to be slated for September 15, 2017, and that the digital preorder for the album was available. In an exclusive interview with Herb Longs of The Christian Beat published before the album's release, Carnes described the sound of the album and his sentiments about it in response to Longs' enquiry, saying: I knew I wanted to make worship music that leads people into the presence of God and blends a few different genres that I love: pop, indie electronic and rock. I feel like the end product accomplishes that in the way I wanted it to and I'm really proud to share it with people. I feel like it's a true introduction to who I am as an artist. — Cody Carnes, The Christian Beat Carnes also shared that he intended to write Scripture-inspired songs about God's love and the power of Jesus, as is considered the norm in most worship records, whilst drawing inspiration from artists like Bon Iver, Coldplay and OneRepublic, saying that "I feel like there are a lot of people in the world like me that love the creative experience of seeing some of their favorite bands live and also love the spiritual experience of a worship night. I want to merge those two worlds together." Release and promotion Singles The studio and live versions of "The Cross Has the Final Word", were released on February 24, 2017, as the lead singles from the album. On April 7, 2017, "Hold It All" became the second song to be