Nichole Nordeman - "Brave"(EMI, 2005) - * * * *

"So long status quo, I think I'm letting go." So begins Nichole Nordeman's fourth studio album, and it's a wonderful way to start. Nichole has always been known for producing Christian music that is on the edge, but on Brave she takes even more musical risks, both lyrically and musically, telling everyone who will listen that her music is not typical CCM fodder. Her ability on the piano shines through, particularly in the breakdown to "Brave" in which she sounds more akin to Fiona Apple than, say, Jaci Velasquez: "Every storm begins with just a single drop of rain," she sings, "But if you believe in me that changes everything."

As the album develops, through amazing tracks like "Real To Me" which features Nordeman's trademarked rising harmonies: "I don't need to know what I don't know ... be real to me, it's all I'm asking," she sings and I'm convinced that if she keeps writing music on this level, she's going to have a career that outlasts all her contemporaries. The album closes appropriately with the piano-based song "We Build" that ends on exactly the right note. "Did it seem to you like the storm just knew we weren't quite finished with the roof when it started?" she sings. "So we build and we build; we clear away what won't and make room for what will."

You could think both of the lives of storm-ravaged Floridians and the lives of everyday people living everyday lives. "On any given day we could simply walk away and let someone else hold the pieces," she sings in a halting falsetto, and I simply have to hit repeat and let this entire album wash over me again. I can't walk away, and you won't be able to either. Brave is a masterpiece in its genre that simply must be heard and appreciated.