Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jason Castro has announced that he’ll release his new album on Jan. 15.

But fans of the fourth-place finisher from Season 7 won’t have to wait that long for new music.

Jason plans to release a five-song EP called “Starting Line” on Aug. 28 — that’s right — next Tuesday.

The EP will be available at Walmart and via online downloads.

As for the album, it will bear the same name as Jason’s first single from it — “Only a Mountain.” That’s the cover art at right.

Jason explains the name in the video I’ve embedded before. It’s the first of seven “making of” videos he plans to release.

The single was released earlier this month and is available on iTunes. On release day, it climbed as high as number three on iTunes Christian singles chart.

“Only a Mountain” will be Jason’s first full-length Christian album, though “Who I Am” released in November 2010, included a mix of Christian music and five tracks from Jason’s post-Idol pop album.