[Last week I announced that I am hoping to professionally record a new 12-track music album, entitled “The Battle for Everyone’s Heart”, which will be distributed as a free gift to the world when completed. I invited people to make a contribution towards its costs, if they felt moved to do so. Thankfully, contributions have now started to come in. But the questions below have been asked concerning this project and I am here giving some clarification in reply to them so that people can make an informed decision]

Question: “I have no problem with support for your daily needs but I’m not sure where the music album fits into your Diakrisis ministry”.

Alan’s Answer: I am really glad to have the opportunity to respond to this question, as I suspect that you will speak for many. For this album fits right into my ministry. All the way! As it has said on all my biographical statements on the rear of books, etc: “Alan Morrison is a writer, poet, songwriter, Bible teacher and spiritual counsellor”. Being a poet and a songwriter is a vital part of my spiritual creativity — part of who I am, alongside and just as much as being a regular writer, or counsellor, or pastor, or Bible teacher. I have written poetry since I was a very young man. There came a time in the 1990s when I began to set some of the poetry to music. But from that time until around 2017, those songs were mostly observational or about relationships or social conscience statements rather than being overtly spiritual, and 40 of the songs went onto three CD music albums between 2010 and 2016 — all recorded in Sweden. A few did have spiritual connotations, such as “The Wrong Road” which spoke of the fact that “Sometimes one has to take a wrong road to discover that it isn’t right” (first line of song), and a verse which says: “Thought I’d gone and blown it with my foolish, clumsy ways; but You just forgave my thoughtless style. Even with the map You gave I couldn’t find my path — I was lost and went for miles, now I’m finally reconciled”. But from 2017 — after I really had been reconciled from a spell of wandering — until now, the majority of the songs I wrote (about 200 in all) had a clear spiritual reference. And the 12 songs on this new album, entitled “The Battle for Everyone’s Heart”, represent the cream of that crop of songs.

This particular album is mostly a medley of what I would broadly call hymns and spiritual songs (cf. Ephesians 5:19), which refer to many aspects of the spiritual life, such as progressive sanctification (“A Paean to Purity”); a balladic ‘Odyssean’ treatment of the Book of Revelation chapters 12 and 13 (“The Battle for Everyone’s Heart”); the war in the world against the mind and the need for a wake-up call (“The Writing on the Wall”); the hideous defacement and persecution of Truth (“Blood in the Dew”); the need to eschew the flesh and worldliness (“Weaned off the World”); the importance of not being overwhelmed by the morass of aggression which is so often aimed at the saints [i.e. us!] (“Just Rise Above it All”); coping with and avoiding apostasy (“The Slide”); musings on having nothing left to lose in this world (“Lost Long Ago”); the need to be a counterculture human in the midst of an evil world rather than a passive conformist to it (“Let’s Rock the Boat!”), for the disciple of Christ is the ultimate counterculture character; a song about how when one hits rock-bottom one is actually closer to the Lord (“Subterranean Berth”); another about the prevalence of ‘ageism’ [anti-elders] in the world today (“Snowcapped Mountain”); and one dedicated surrealistically to all corrupt and hypocritical politicians everywhere (“Two-Faced Man”). That takes account of all 12 of the songs on the proposed album.

These songs are designed to embed themselves in the hearts and minds of the saints as encouragement and to stimulate thinking — not to mention the potential evangelistic aspect. Many are rooted in a contemporary folk style which is perfect for story-telling. Previous albums had a distinct “Americana”/“alt-country” feel but that seems to have morphed mainly into a more Brit-Folk style for the tracks on this new album, on which I sing and play acoustic guitar, and will be joined by other musicians according to the arrangement of each track.

So, yes, I believe strongly that this particular album fits right into my Diakrisis ministry; and because it is my final musical statement in album form I am giving it away for free solely in a digital format, available online, accompanied by album art with lyrics and credits in a PDF eBook, the design of which is being done by an artist who volunteered her special talents for the project.

Question: “How much are you trying to raise exactly? What will be the cost of it all?”

Alan’s Answer: Well, for the production, mixing, and mastering, which is the main body of work involved, I would need around £3,500 as a ballpark figure — maybe a bit more as it all pans out. Then there will be musicians’ fees, but I am told by a guy who is the most likely contender for producer that he knows a number of musicians who will come into the studio at reduced fees and some will maybe even play for nothing because of the nature of the album, the subject matter and the fact that it will be given away for free. He has access to some musicians who play interesting instruments which I wanted to have on the album, such as a Viola da gamba and Uillean bagpipes. I am trusting in God to bring all the right people together.

So far, I have kindly been pledged £300 in donations for this album, which is nearly 10% of the way there. But it is early days yet. If just 10 people pledged £100, 20 pledged £50, and 40 pledged £25, we’d be wholly there. Or if there are any folks out there with more money than they need, you would be more than welcome to pledge more. Remember, I make no profit out of this. It is all a project of love.

Question: “This does sound like a worthy project. What if I am interested in donating, how can I go about it”.

Alan’s Answer: You only have to pledge an amount at first by telling me of your intention via diakrisis-project@outlook.com , diakrisis-project@proton.me , or any other route to me that you have, and then, when the project is about to go ahead (hopefully October or maybe November), I will notify you and you will send the money direct to the producer or one or more of the musicians. I want the whole project to bypass me financially. I do this for the sake of transparency, and also because I do not want to become liable for tax on money which is not personal income. All the invoices will be open to your scrutiny if you wish to see them.

Question: “I might be interested but I would like to hear the music and see the lyrics first, just to be sure that it is something that I could get behind”.

Alan’s Answer: Absolutely! No problem. I have ZIP files of demo MP4 videos of the songs, with me playing acoustic guitar and singing, along with a ZIP file of the lyrics in PDFs for all of the songs. So you would receive a link to download these via an online file sharing application (‘Transfer Now’) and you can then listen and follow along with the lyrics. Just ask me and I will send it all to you by return. Obviously, these are just very crude and raw ‘unplugged’ versions of the songs for demonstration purposes, so you would have to use your imagination concerning what the finished product could sound like. I believe that this is very much a support-worthy project which will be an encouragement for the saints and a gift which will mean something to them.

Question: “Why are you giving this album away for free? Is it not being overgenerous?”

Alan’s Answer: This really does feel right. I want as many people as possible to hear these songs and have them in their lives. I do not want to place any restriction on their distribution, especially because almost all the songs have a strong spiritual core, and there is an underlying sense of good conscience to all the lyrics. I would feel wrong if I was selling all that. I do not believe that one can be overgenerous with a love-gift. If you are concerned about what amounts to ‘giving money away’, you just have to regard it as a donation to a cause, like a charity, which will do people good. I do not want to line my pockets with lucre gained from the sale of what I regard as a precious commodity which should be on other people’s radar and not merely confined to mine.

I hope all the above answers make sense. Now… over to you…

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