Frequency Podcast

As one can attest from their April 24 take over of 21 digital billboards in NYC’s Times Square, no one is going to accuse Hillsong Worship (nee Hillsong Live) of being understated or subtle – well, at least in terms of promotion. Their latest collection, No Other Name, released this week, coincides with the Hillsong Church celebrating 30 years of ministry. After such a bold statement, the question is whether Hillsong Worship can deliver the goods with this 11-song offering. We set loose contributor Jessica Collins to find out and research the reviews. Read on to enjoy the results of her labor.The ConsensusFrankly, it was difficult to find a dissenting voice. Critics were effectively universal in praising the release, yet they were not effusive in their response. A common thread among comments is an appreciation for the tasteful and inspired interweaving of classic hymns with new songs. Hillsong hasn’t abandoned their tried-and-true big anthem approach, and they continue to execute it well and resist being lulled into formulaic product. No Other Name appears to demonstrate a continuing commitment by Hillsong to produce quality, Christ-focused worship and to be a resource to the universal church.HallelsReview Link: http://www.hallels.com/articles/2095/20140627/hillsong-worship-no-other-name-album-review.htmKey quote:“Yet, the album forges ahead onto new grounds. Instead of diluting their lyrical content by borrowing stacks of clichés from their secular peers, they have harkened back to the rich heritage of the church giving these songs a heftier theological depth and dimension.”New Release TuesdayReview Link: http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/albumdetail.php?album_id=14045Key quotes:“…they continue to resource churches around the globe with brand new songs that consistently make up the most anticipated worship album year after year.”“Ever-committed to resourcing individuals, worship teams and churches alike, the Hillsong Worship team seeks to bring songs that are as diverse as the greater Church herself is.”Christian Music ReviewReview Link: http://christianmusicreview.org/hillsong-worship-no-other-name/Key quote:“One thing you can always count on from Hillsong and that is singable, passionate songs that glorify God and express faith and devotion to Christ…No Other Name points us towards Jesus, the only One whose name has the power to release us from everything that attempts to drag us down. “Louder Than the MusicReview Link: http://louderthanthemusic.com/document.php?id=4395Key quote:“These are songs that will draw the worshipper closer to God…the songs are much gentler and intimate. We have become so used to Hillsong albums that are very much ‘in your face’, with big powerful guitars and drums producing anthemic praise songs, but these songs let the worshipper breathe a little bit more and sit in the presence of the King of Kings.”

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Late January 2012, Joe was offered the opportunity to interview Nick de Partee of Kutless for The Songwriters Cafe as part of the promotion of their 2012 release, Believer. This week’s Wise Words installment – our 11th – is an excerpt from that conversation. Nick shares why it’s important both to himself and other members of the band to keep Christ at the center of all things.

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Leading up to the release of his first book, 10:10: Life to the Fullest, our Episode 20 guest, Daniel Hill, blogged about the conflict that exists for many Christian artists: self-promotion versus Christ-like humility. It caught our attention, and we shared it immediately. This ultimately led to a great conversation about the journey of his book release as well as digging into the themes of 10:10: faith, fear, and fulfillment.hill_1010_wSpine.inddDaniel Hill is the pastor of River City Community Church, a multi-ethnic church in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. As a pastor’s kid, he was was initially drawn to the business world but migrated ultimately to work in ministry. Our interview with Daniel explores 10:10, his anti-marketing strategy to promoting the book, the innately superficial nature of establishing a platform, and the need for artists to maintain their integrity in both creating and sharing their work.

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One of our favorite interviews – and a bit of an undiscovered gem – is from Episode 11 featuring Don Poythress. In our humble opinion, that conversation should be mandatory listening for all aspiring songwriters. In our 10th installment of Wise Words, we share some insight from Don regarding work ethic and the reward one receives for showing up – even if you don’t feel like it.

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We’ve featured Sara Beth Go during the Sanctuary Concert series (more to come, by the way), and we finally sat down to interview her yesterday. While we won’t be airing the full interview for a few weeks, we couldn’t resist grabbing this gem from the conversation and sharing it with you today in our 9th installment of Wise Words.

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You may know Bonnie Gray as the creator and writer behind FaithBarista.com, an interactive website designed to help women heal by telling their stories. Gray is a graduate of UCLA and is a passionate writer who has also been a missionary and high-tech professional in Silicon Valley. Above all, and relevant to her triumph in writing Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest, is Gray’s unique ability to connect women with their own stories in a powerful and healing way.Throughout the book, Gray’s own painful story unfolds. She writes unflinchingly about her childhood marred by parental emotional abuse and divorce, and how she recognized the need as an adult to seek help for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The core of this powerful book is the manner in which she emerged from her PTSD to face her past and live in the present.The resulting story could stand alone as a parable of forgiveness. But Gray goes much further to give her readers the real and transformative gift of a structured and meditative approach to healing past emotional wounds. The process she has created has the power to help those being healed to emerge as what Henri Nouwen called a “wounded healer” – those who recognize and heal their own wounds so that they are able to help others heal.The image behind the book is that of “white space,” that area around a work of art that frames it so we can clearly see what the artist intended. White space helps the viewer focus on the art being presented without being distracted by surrounding clutter. By analogy, Gray uses the artistic device of white space to help her readers clear away the clutter of their own past to see the beauty intended by their creator. The point behind all of this is that the reader is herself a work of art, worthy of white space, worthy to be seen clearly in her full beauty. This is powerful stuff in a world where women are often implicitly if not directly told to suffer silently and to project a false and commercial beauty.One small criticism of the book is that, ironically, it seems at first a bit cluttered. There are several major sections in each chapter, including Gray’s unfolding childhood story, highlights from her therapy to heal her PTSD, and some exercises for the reader to work though her own healing; however, this structure is not at first completely clear. Stick with it, though, and the flow of the book will begin to make sense. Once it does, you will be rewarded.If you are willing to devote time and honest energy to your own “white space,” to let your God-given beauty emerge, you will grow from the stories and exercises in this book. Although this book is intended for women, there are many applications for men as well. Anyone with a painful past in search of healing will benefit from Finding Spiritual Whitespace.

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One of our most popular episodes, Episode 4, featured an interview with spoken word artist, Phil Long. And when you listen to Wise Words 8, it will quickly become evident why. Phil recognizes how Christian culture influences – and potentially limits – the work we create as artists. His perspective is both refreshing and convicting, and it extends beyond his chosen medium.

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We reached into the archives – going all the way back to Episode 1 with Richie Fike – for our weekly dose of wisdom. Richie really set the standard when it comes to speaking to other artists and encouraging them to learn from his journey.He and his wife Dana are currently putting the finishing touches on a new album, More Than Anthems, due August this year, and he’s enjoying the success of “We Believe”, a song co-written with Matt Hooper and Travis Ryan.

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We’ve been chatting a lot about this interview with our Episode 19 guest. Jessica Campbell is a critically-acclaimed indie singer/songwriter based in Nashville. Her 2013 release The Anchor & the Sail was not only well-received but songs have been frequency featured in media – including a nod in USA Today for her song “Gone”.Our conversation with Jessica is full of insight and covers a lot of ground. She addresses the apparent gap that exists between different levels of indie artists, the benefit of media song placement, writing with Michael Farren (of Pocket Full of Rocks) and the truly glamourous nature of promoting your music in undiscovered country. Oh, and because Joe can’t help himself, he asks how close TV show Nashville comes to reality.By the way, since this was a somewhat longish episode – about an hour – we wanted to provide you with a few transition times in case you choose to enjoy in more than one sitting: Interview Start (10:05), Segment 2 (17:20), Segment 3 (33:00), Segment 4 (37:30), Segment 5 (49:58).

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Here at Frequency headquarters, we occasionally like to joke that no artist is allowed to appear on the site or podcast feed without first demonstrating that they have an established relationship with Christa Wells. The fact is, though, that she is a thoughtful and talented individual who has some excellent insight into being an independent artist.In our sixth installment of Wise Words, we feature an exchange with Christa that occurred during our Episode 7 interview where she discusses experiences that inspire her to write and why those experience aren’t required to be happy ones.

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