Fresh IE's (a.k.a. Robert Wilson) 19th album is now available today.

The new album, The Flight of the Hummingbird, has been 10 years in the making. It's based on his travels all across Canada where it touches down on sexuality, reconciliation, mental health. and other topics -  things he's dealt with when visiting northern communities, almost every reserve in Canada as well as in the south in Mennonite communities and inner cities, schools, churches, and prisons.

"The album is really just about a journey of this hummingbird who is flying across the country and just seeing the state of, you know,  the youth and in different topics of politics and social justice and these things. And so, yeah, this is basically a journey through my eyes really, a journey of travelling and ministering across the country."

Some of the songs in the album are made up of issues in society that Fresh I.E. tackles such as missing and murdered women, songs to challenge

FreshIE album cover
men to really start being a covering for women and to step up and be men - finding proactive solutions as men for the issues in Canada that men and women face.

Fresh I.E. gives an example of the problem of missing and murdered women and how men can help. He says that we can be better men. "A lot of the women who have gone missing or ran or fled from the situations in their lives and ended up going missing. It's just really taking the initiative on ourselves to say let's be better husbands, let's be better fathers to our children, and better husbands to our wives. These are things we can do in our own home to help the situation abroad," he said.

If he had to pick his favourite song off the album, Fresh IE said that it would probably be the one titled, "It's Not Over" because it touches down on bullying and suicide. He explains that in the last verse of that song is from the perspective of a gay Christian teen who's very confused and doesn't know who to go to but has these feelings and doesn't know how to decipher them and he's at the end of his rope. It then goes into the chorus of God saying "It's Not Over." The whole message of the song is about God is the answer, about your relationship with Him and knowing your value and how God sees you.

Talking about that song, Fresh IE said, "That one's featuring Warren Dean Flandez who's a Juno nominee this year. Also, another brother named Illa who's on the second verse and I'm on the first and third verse. so yeah, I'm just excited about that one you know, just a collaboration with Warren."

Many songs were written three to four years prior and according to Fresh I.E., they just sat there with him not knowing how the songs would fit until recently about two months ago. "It's crazy how it unfolded," he said.

Fresh I.E. writes music as a tool to minister, inspire and challenge and is used for transformation. "Music is powerful. There's so much need out there. This music is a tool to bring healing to the nations. David played the harp and brought healing to people as he played. I believe we have the ability to do the same to make music that will bring healing to the nations and to inspire young people to find out who they really are and not to give up on life. That's what the Flight of the Hummingbird represents."

Flight of the Hummingbird can be purchased through iTunes and Spotify or go to Fresh IE's website.