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| Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Music > Rebirth by Deb Fung To An Emerging StarWriter : Dawn Fung Dawn Fung reviews Deb Fung's 2006 album, Rebirth, in the form of a letter to the award-winning Australian artiste.   Rebirth by Deb Fung. Image taken from debfung.comDear Deb, You have reached a point of no return. While you continue to push your mark in Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) as a singer-songwriter and winning awards, I think you have also emerged a star. Rebirth is considered old by the time this review is out because your latest album, Whoever You Are is out. I note that you have an energy like that of Western artistes like Jewel Kilcher who puts out an album almost every other year but not as maniacal as the Mandarin poppers who bust their vocals for two or three albums a year. I mention Jewel Kilcher and Mandarin poppers because you are sort of in between. You like to belt out folksy rock while you look, well, Australian Chinese. The popper part is inspired by the sounds of Rebirth which for all the guitars and melodies, do not hide the fact that you will do immensely well in the popular market. You will soar because her star seems to shine that way. And it is a fantastic thing, one that reeks of God's blessings. On your Rebirth album, you still pronounce your letter 'T' thoroughly like the word, incompleTe, in "Whoever You Are"(WYA). In the song the narrator admits knowing nothing about being a loser but she seems to have lost her identity. But the WYA is not the narrator of the song because obviously, she would not know. The WYA is a reference to the Big Kahuna, the God in the sky for the person who is incomepleTe, to "come fill my hearT". But if I do not know what to expect from the rest of the album, I need only to just stop and listen because I might have "Fallen" asleep to the wonderful lullaby of "Hear the Angels" right now. I say lullaby because to really hear angels I have to be very quiet and in my quiet time nowadays, I tend to head for "Eternity", which will wake me up again because I do not think it is time yet. Speaking of what else I hear, I like the music in "One by One". The track made me wonder if you had any Portishead influence. Regardless of this conversion "I Believe In You" because "whether or not we see eye to eye/we just do what we are called to". As to whether or not I think Rebirthmakes sense as a title, I think the connection between the songs belies a word that makes this review one step closer to sensibility. That word is Christ. As a singer-songwriter with strong foundations in the Word and serving in ministry, your songs point in one way or the other to God. The message comes out that way because you chose it. And I suppose you might not head anywhere else as long as you are convicted that this is where God wants you. If Christ is the right word to use, then that makes this letter somewhat relevant because that word also connects us both, and the people reading this. Unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God for which Christ came to earth to bring us to. This means that Rebirth refers to the participation in the search that the songs offer, for "the comforter and strength". I think the songs should make people wonder, "Are we of the same nature?" For the people of the same faith, it would be "Are we really born again?" I understand that you might have something else on your mind for the title. I quote from your catalogue online : "With musicians such as Damian Rogers (Delta Goodrem, Christine Anu), Mark Cullen (Shine, Parachute Band), Phil Gaudion (Paul Coleman Trio) and Brad Evans (Whispers of You, Captured Melody), Rebirth has captured a smorgasbord of tasty musicianship as well as the essence of Deb's new sound." The new sound of Deb is a blend of poprockfolk which I will shorten to DPRF (do not pronounce it), stronger than the earlier albums, and better. This is the extent of where you are headed for - a point of no return for the rebirth of a down to earth and exciting star. Dawn For more information, visit debfung.com
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