25 Albums I Can't Live Without: #24

Brooke Fraser, "Albertine"

Here’s the latest in my series of 25 albums that I can’t live without.

I first heard of Brooke Fraser through her work with Hillsong United and Hillsong’s main worship team. As soon as I discovered that she recorded as a solo artist, I had to check her out.

Fraser started out as a teen pop star in her native New Zealand. Her debut album “What to Do With Daylight” produced hits, won awards, and is a modern classic Kiwi album. However, the follow-up is her masterpiece.

“Albertine” expanded on what she achieved on her debut with a more mature sound and some bolder proclamations of faith. The single “Shadowfeet” got some airplay on Christian radio here in the States and became a modest hit.

“Deciphering Me” became a bigger hit in New Zealand.

Beyond those two radio singles are strong album cuts. Whether Fraser is singing about love in a song like “Love, Where Is Your Fire”…

…or whether she’s quoting the deep considerations of faith from “Mere Christianity” in “C.S. Lewis Song”…

…Fraser’s lyrics are thoughtful, and the music is well-written. Marshall Altman’s production is gorgeous as well.

Other highlights include “Albertine,” based on her experience on a mission trip to Rwanda, and “Hosea’s Wife,” in which Fraser explores the human tendency to stray from our first love using the Old Testament prophet’s story.

Fraser was 23 when “Albertine” came out, but her maturity and creativity belie such youth. She went on to make a few more albums that thread that line between pop and Christian music, and she now records worship music under her married name, Brooke Ligertwood.

Photo credit: Crs management, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons