Paul Baloche christmas carols

That title suggests the direction in which Baloche is aiming, but regardless of an artist’s intent, there’s plenty of cynicism when themed festive season releases are released.

“That’s probably why it’s taken 20-something years for me to do one of these,” laughs Baloche.

“For me, I’m a worship pastor. At this time of year, people want to sing these songs. There’s plenty of good spiritual stuff in there, but we had lost a lot of the ‘vertical’ relationship in the songs. I wanted to facilitate church worship teams getting that part of it right.”

http://www.youtube.com/user/leadworshipdotcom

Is this added facet an issue for listeners simply looking for another Christmas shopping soundtrack?

“If people are confused, they haven’t told me,” smiles Baloche.

“Most of the well-known carols were written in the context of worship, and it’s good for me to re-focus on that. I don’t like taking too much melodic licence in doing so – I want people to be able to get involved.”

Much of what Baloche has done on Christmas Worship involves re-arranging traditional music and adding in contemporary, original refrains. In terms of the age-old arguments about “old music” versus “new music”, where does material like this sit?

“I take a step back from that sort of thing,” says Baloche.

“My reaction is generally: ‘Really? With all the issues going on in our cities, we’re worrying about this?’ Still, I do understand both points of view. A lot of the new songs have a sort of ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ message. I prefer it when music is like a buffet: you don’t have to taste too much.”

In terms of adding the new refrains, is there a process for maintaining the overall mood or tone, or is it a mix and match affair?

“It’s both,” says Baloche.

“First, there’s the theme – does it correlate? But carols are generally theologically sound: you inhale that, and you exhale the fresh response in the refrain.”

ACCESSIBLE ADD-ONS. Paul Baloche tries to cater for all consumers of his music, on many different platforms. Pictures: Supplied.

There are also new original works on the album. Is writing about Christmas different or more challenging than less specifically focused work?

“Not necessarily,” Baloche says.

“Sometimes you can have too many options, which can be overwhelming. This sort of opportunity can help you to focus, and to go deep on a theme. For the same reason, I try to put restrictions on myself regularly and try and write songs about the same topic for a month or so.”

Baloche is an outspoken proponent of creating music as a resource. That’s a counter-intuitive approach to many people who associate music with an emotional outpouring or a simple rhythm pattern. Is there a challenge to changing that mindset?

“I’ve never compared what I do to pop music other than in this respect. But it came about in the first place when I was listening to James Taylor years ago. The plain sheet music that I was able to get my hands on didn’t sound like what he did. I needed a specific niche book that didn’t really exist.

“So I started doing videos that showed people how I was playing my songs. My label, didn’t know what to do with them at first. But the intent was simply to make it easier to play my music.”