Image courtesy of Sony/BMG

The Art of Being Brooke

Editor of About Christian Music, Mark Tulk, recently caught up with Brooke Fraser to talk about her music, her faith and her brand new CD, Albertine.

Mark Tulk: Thanks for your time today Brooke! About Christian Music is concerned with dialoguing around the perhaps unanswerable question, ‘What is Christian Music?'. How would you define Christian Music and where do you see yourself within its context?

Brooke Fraser: I suppose I'd say I'm vehemently opposed to being called a Christian Musician in terms of the CCM [Contemporary Christian Music] music industry. And I know a lot of people, particularly people making worship music, who feel the same way. They're pretty disturbed by what CCM has become -- the merchandising of the Gospel. There are those who are actually abusing the name of Jesus, making money off of what is sacred and turning the temple into a marketplace. And at the same time you have to acknowledge that there are those who have genuine hearts and who are truly doing what God has called them to do... you can't tar everyone with the same brush. So my position is that I refuse to be associated with that part of the industry, but am I a Christian? Absolutely I'm a Christian -- I'm a Christian before I'm a musician! But like with anything we do, we should approach our work, whatever that is, with a willingness and a desire to be led by the Holy Spirit... that the labour of our hands would result in giving glory to God and furthering the Great Commission... whatever that looks like. It could be in music, or in a construction company. But I definitely acknowledge that music is a tool -- that it is a heavenly language. There's actually no music in Hell... the Bible confirms that... but music has this ability to override, or bypass people's intellect and go straight to the soul. So I certainly recognise the responsibility of being a musician and a songwriter who knows Jesus and has the Holy Spirit living in them. It means I'm required to have a much greater perspective...

Mark Tulk: So essentially you're a Christian who writes songs, rather than a ‘Christian Songwriter' as such? Now some people have set ideas about what Christian music should be, its purpose, its role within the Church etc. You're signed to Sony/BMG -- a major secular record company -- and have a large audience outside of the Church as well... do you find there is any sort of tension between these two particular ‘spheres', especially when it comes to the lyrics you write?

Brooke Fraser: No, not really. To be honest I've never struggled with this. You can't put what God is doing on this earth into a box... it can't be summarised into tidy categories. Whatever God is doing through my life, it's not just about me. There's a stirring happening in God's Church, through the creative arts, creative ministries and other things too... and as time moves on we get closer and closer to Jesus coming back. God has a plan for the whole earth and it involves everyone one of us doing our part -- it's not necessarily going to look like something we can easily understand on the natural. I write worship songs that are for the building up of God's people in the Church, and I love that because I'm able to express really clearly, and declare uncompromisingly my love for Jesus. But at the same time I recognise the importance of my other songs as being like parables... taking Church to people who would never walk into a church...

Mark Tulk: Congratulations by the way on the new album, ‘Albertine', it's fantastic! I've been listening to it quite a lot recently. It's been some time coming... what's been happening for you over the last few years? ‘What To Do With Daylight' was released in 2003?

Brooke Fraser: I guess most people don't understand the ins and outs of the music industry, what happens in the journey, from writing the songs to actually getting them on the shelf... The work doesn't stop when you get the album into stores... it actually starts then, which you'd be well aware of. So with the last album, ‘What To Do With Daylight', I didn't actually finish promoting that ‘til late 2005... that was literally two and a half years of living with those songs, promoting them, talking about them and touring them. It wasn't until all that promotional work was out of the way, that I could then move on to something else. So in reality, it was only about a year from the completion of that album to making the next one.

Mark Tulk: And you visited Africa during that time as well. That's obviously been a big influence on your new album?

Brooke Fraser: Yeah, definitely.

Mark Tulk: Could you tell me about the impact that trip had on you, and perhaps a little bit about the song ‘Albertine' ? -- you touch on the story behind that song in the album liner notes...

Brooke Fraser: Yeah, I put that story in the liner notes ‘cause I knew I would be asked a lot about the song... it's difficult for me to talk about really... so I wanted to come up with a simple way of summarising it, without going into all the details. The details are hard to relive, and go over and over again -- I don't want to become numb to it. But going to Rwanda for the first time in 2005 had an indescribable effect on me. Not just on a soul level: my mind, my will, my emotions, but on a spiritual level. I felt something shift -- like I'd been handed the task for my life. I can't really articulate the way it's changed me, I just know I haven't been the same since going there. I returned again last year to see the new projects we'd established in different communities and to Hope Rwanda. I'll definitely be having an ongoing involvement with that country.

Mark Tulk: How does your music, your performance, your touring fit with your desire to assist the work of these mission organisations? Do you actually have enough time? How does it work practically?

Brooke Fraser: Well it's hard! It's very stretching. But I'm really blessed to have management and a record company who really understand that that's a huge part of my heart... that if I don't go and do those things I'll be miserable, and that won't be good for anybody! And so it's really amazing. Obviously there are seasons when I need to be committed to doing promotion, but fortunately I am able to block out time in my schedule to be able to do those trips. For example last month I went to the Philippines with Opportunity International... those get blocked out of my calendar so everyone knows I'm not available for promotion during those times, so I am available to serve the Church. They're really amazing like that, I know that that's not normal.

Mark Tulk: You mentioned earlier your dislike of the CCM industry, what about your own response to success and fame? How do you cope with that? Your life must have changed a lot since the success of your first album...

Brooke Fraser: It's definitely a test. It costs you so much. And unless I continually look at the big picture to get an eternal perspective on it, it can be really hard to handle. There's so much pressure and so much expectation, and the selfish part of me would be quite happy for things to stop right where they are now... I said to my best friend on the weekend, ‘I kinda don't want it to work in Australia', I want to live here, you know what I mean? I love my life here, I love my friends here, but that's just part of where you go... where the Holy Sprit takes you. It's like the Holy Spirit says, ‘Have you given me your whole life?'. ‘When you prayed, “Here I am, send me”, did you think that I wouldn't answer?'. And then the Holy Spirit rebukes you and you say, ‘Oh, you were right Lord!'. Personally, having a public profile costs you a lot, it costs your family a lot to have to read stuff about you, it costs your friends... it costs you. But then, even last week, I was at the offices of Sony/BMG playing a couple of songs to them, and the person who introduced me said that he'd been talking to one of the other staff earlier, who'd been listening to the album over the weekend. She'd been so moved listening to it that she'd decided to sponsor a child... And I've heard so many stories like that... people deciding to do something... the letters you get... knowing practically the difference it's making to people. I was at a church conference last weekend and someone came up to me and said ‘I listen to your album all the time, and it's brought me back to God'. And so it's about people and hopefully being a vessel for God to invade their lives. That makes it all worth it. I'm so aware it's nothing I can do by effort, but just by going ‘God I'm willing... whatever it takes'. ‘I'm willing to be used by you... I'm willing to throw all this stuff that the world says is important away, for the sake of your name and for the sake of your glory... to be despised for you'.

Mark Tulk: Do you at any time feel burdened by a sense of responsibility before God? He has given you so much... he has allowed your music to reach so many people...

Brooke Fraser: There is a lot of pressure, but I'm so grateful to God... He's given us everything we need for life and Godliness, and I believe that. That's always been my experience of God -- that He's faithful and that when we're weak, He's so strong. He provides seed for the sower and bread for the eater. It's also so valuable to be a part of this incredible church and to be surrounded by people who actually have a heck of a lot more influence than I do, and know how to handle success in a Godly way. They've lived for years with that kind of pressure and expectation and managed to navigate it really well -- they've lived through it for God's glory. If it was just me, I'd be so overwhelmed I'd probably never leave my house... I just wouldn't be able to deal with it. But I'm part of a community of people who understand, who can actually lead me, ‘cause I don't really know how to handle it myself...

Mark Tulk: Do you feel well and truly settled in Sydney, Australia?

Brooke Fraser: Yeah, I really do, and church is probably the biggest part of that. I absolutely love church and this community that I'm a part of... God's people here. I'm so happy, and I've never been more excited about life... and God's done this work in my heart where I have a love for God's Church, not Hillsong particularly, but God's church all over the world that I never had before. I just love being a part of the Body of Christ... all the incredible things you want to see happen in your lifetime, you recognise very quickly that you won't do them by yourself, but together we can -- like, all of us just doing our little part, it's incredible... I LOVE IT!

Mark Tulk: Just going back to your new release, how do you think you've grown and developed as a musician and a songwriter since ‘What To Do With Daylight'? Did the new material come together easily?

Brooke Fraser: It was kinda different... there were songs that I wrote over two years and songs that I wrote in twenty minutes. I'm definitely still honing my craft... I think writing for church has probably helped a lot with that, because I'm forced to communicate my heart... in a way that is universally accessible. In terms of melody and harmony, church songs need to be simple enough for the most unmusical person to grasp quickly, but without being dumb! So that's really stretched me, and been a great thing for me too. In the past few years I've also been exposed to, and played with more musicians than I have in my whole lifetime... I've played with people who are so much better than me... and it always helps to be put in situations where you are over your head... you have to learn and you have to get better, and that's the stuff that 'makes your baby leap'...

Mark Tulk: Do you have people around you that you play your material to, to get feedback? Or do you just work on things until you're happy with them yourself? What's your process there?

Brooke Fraser: I think I'm timid when it comes to that... I'm not someone who shows my songs to people until they're finished. I want to wait until they're right -- until I'm happy with them... then I'll bring them to someone. Until I came to church, I've never really had an environment where I can get great feedback... you know, you bring a song to church and they go ‘maybe you could change that bit, it's not congregational enough, maybe this bit could be a bit better and so then you're forced to go back and evaluate it. That's been really valuable process. But yeah, usually I just wait ‘til I'm happy with them before bringing them to the table.

Mark Tulk: Are you interested in doing a worship album of these songs?

Brooke Fraser: No, I don't really see that happening in the near future. At the moment I'm very happy just writing them for church. I don't know though... I never want to speak too soon... but I don't see a Brooke Fraser worship album on the cards -- it's just a huge honour to write songs and have them sung in the local church and have people grab on to them... that's amazing!

Mark Tulk: Just one last question... for the remainder of 2007 you've got a New Zealand tour coming up in the next couple of months...

Brooke Fraser: Yeah, and we are going on a tour of Australia straight after that... the shows are already booked... we'll be doing Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane...

Mark Tulk: Thanks so very much for your time today Brooke. It's been wonderful chatting with you!

Brooke Fraser: Thanks so much!

www.brookefraser.com/