Brandon Lake, worship leader and songwriter with Bethel Music Collective, debuted his latest solo single with a bold, edgy track titled “I Need A Ghost.”
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Lake told American Songwriter the song was a conversation with God that spilled out of him after a production session in Nashville. A prayer to have the Holy Spirit in his life, Lake said he hopes the single, along with the rest of his forthcoming album,would bridge the gap between Christian music with a more artistic bent, and worship music with primarily congregational utility.
“My ultimate goal is to steward whatever ideas God gives me the best that I can,” Lake explained. “If it comes out in the form of a song I feel like needs to be tailored for the corporate church, then I have such a heart for that…but if God has expanded the platform, I feel like there’s this responsibility and opportunity to also write songs that can cater to somebody who’s not in church but maybe is listening to the radio, or is flipping through Spotify and wants faith based songs.”
“I feel like God is calling me, in a way, to balance that, where not every song needs to have creativity and utility, but in some way there’s going to be a balance of both,” Lake continued. “For me “I Need A Ghost,” and this project is a little bit more on the creative side, but it still has utility to it, it’s still easy and accessible and something I believe everybody could sing and get on board with.”
The heart of the project as a whole, with the title track “House Of Miracles,” Lake said, is to remind individuals that experiencing God goes beyond just a church setting, but that the songs one may sing also hold the presence of God.
“What I want my family’s ministry to be, and to show, is that we are a house of miracles,” Lake said. “Everywhere we go, and our literal home, and the songs I write – that they house the presence of God and that you can’t help but when you experience my family, and when you experience these songs but encounter the miraculous, the supernatural things of God.”
“That’s my commission for other people, that your house can be a house of miracles, and you don’t have to just go to church to experience the presence of God, but that He wants to meet you exactly where you are,” Lake emphasized. “He also wants you to become a house of miracles, by the things that you say and the way that you live, you too can experience that.”
Lake noted the instrumentation of “I Need A Ghost,” contrasts intensely with other songs that will be on the full album, because he hopes to show both the rowdy and reflective side of worship music.
“Sonically, what it sounds like to be in a relationship with God is not just one thing,” Lake said. “It’s many different things, it’s many different emotions, it’s many different conversations. So that’s what the record is. It’s many different facets of who God is, and even sonically what it sounds like. There are moments where I believe we’re called to be rowdy in our praise, but then there’s times where we’re reflective, so you’re gonna get that all encompassed in the entire record.”
Ultimately, Lake said he hopes to reach people who are already close to God, and those who may be far from God. The songs on his upcoming record, including this latest single, Lake explained are meant to be a resource, to strike-up dialogue, and to translate truth into individuals lives.
