For full-time mum and singer/song-writer Carly Fletcher, creating music is more than a personal hobby. As the manager of “A New Song Collective” (ANSC)—an umbrella brand under which Adventist artists can create and distribute music—Carly uses her talents to realise a much bigger dream.
“My dream is to see more Adventist-Christian music being produced,” she explains. “We have so much talent, and we need to dig deeper and get more of it out there!”
As a mother of two little ones—and another one on the way—Carly juggles her management of ANSC with raising a family. “I do most of my work at night-time when the kiddies are asleep,” she says.
“I basically manage a collective of artists, which involves organising all the behind-the-scenes stuff involved in putting together an album,” she continues. “Keeping the artists on track for recording in the studio, organising the graphic design for the CD cover and case, and all the nitty-gritty details, like proofreading everything, getting others to proofread, working out the song order.”
The idea for ANSC originated out of a dream project Carly was working on to produce an album for children and involve lots of Adventist artists in the process.
“Braedan Entermann suggested that we keep going with this model of creating compilation albums so that we could get more Adventist music out there, faster! It would mean that as an artist you could just contribute one song, instead of having to put together 12 songs or so at a time, which is both costly and time-consuming.”
Managed by a committee of three—Carly, Braedan and Anna Beaden—ANSC is aimed at encouraging new talent, mentoring those who have never set foot in a studio and helping established artists to release more songs.
“What I love about ANSC is that I can get more people involved in producing quality Adventist-Christian music,” says Carly. “It’s music with a message; it’s Bible-based, relevant to the times we are living in, and we try and have a theme for each album. We also try to produce the music in such a way that it can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible.”
While ANSC’s first album “For Such a Time” was specifically aimed at junior-aged kids, they have now produced a second and third album targeted at a wider audience. The third album “Endure” was released in April, the second volume to their previous album “Renew”.
“Volume 2: Endure includes songs that have been specifically written to help give people strength, courage and endurance for all that is happening in our world today,” Carly explains.
Carly says that ANSC hopes to create lyric music videos for each of the songs on their latest album, so that the music can be distributed as widely as possible.
“We use the CDs as gifts to friends and family, and we also have them for sale on all the digital platforms. Our music is written to glorify God and we pray that as people listen to the songs, that they are drawn into a closer relationship with Jesus. We dedicate each album to God and pray that His Holy Spirit will work through the songs to touch people’s hearts and draw them to Jesus.”
Looking forward, ANSC hopes to create more albums and involve more Adventist artists and musicians in the process. They ask that if you know a singer, songwriter or musician who would be interested in being involved, to contact them.
To listen to music produced by ANSC or to get in contact, you can visit their website, follow them on Facebook @anewsongcollective or email them at anewsongcollective@gmail.com.
