June 1 kicks summer off to a unique start with the release of a new project, Streams, in which artists delve into their own darkness to point listeners to the hope that heals.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you have Amy Grant, Point of Grace, Jaci Velasquez, Sixpence None the Richer, Cindy Morgan and a host of other notable artists willing to lend their voices to a concept project, asking them to sing about pain might not exactly be the most bankable idea. Then to lead the album off with a song about Job, suffering's poster child, and end it with a 20-minute orchestral suite (which means none of those big-name artists are singing at all) seems almost suicidal.

As Streams ships to stores, though, its proud parents--Word Entertainment President Loren Balman and Word VP of A&R Brent Bourgeois--don't seem to be losing any sleep. In fact, they appear strangely well rested.

After listening to the album, it becomes clear why. This beautifully crafted, deeply moving album isn't the gamble it may seem to be. In other words, there's a reason Balman, who was also largely responsible for the much acclaimed My Utmost for His Highest series, is a successful record executive.

Not that he was immediately sold on the concept. When a friend first suggested the idea of a various artists' project on pain and healing, Balman didn't exactly jump at the chance to take on the rather heavy topic. But after a particularly emotional staff meeting where he heard co-workers share some heart-wrenching prayer requests, he found himself reconsidering.

"I realized that it's going on all the time for all of us. We face these real trials, and this pain is good because we know we have a sovereign God watching over it, but it's still like, 'Ugh! Why do we have to go through this?'"

Why indeed? It's a question most of us have asked at one time or another as we found ourselves struggling to find God's light in the midst of our personal darkness. Still, it's not something that's often addressed in Christian music or in the Christian community.

"People don't come up to you and [ask], 'Do you have a healing record?'" Balman admits. "It's so not what you do as humans. You don't go around looking for that, particularly when you're in pain."

But maybe we should. After all, music has long been used to soothe souls, accomplishing things that words alone don't seem to have the power to do.

Sixpence's Leigh Nash thinks she may know why. "It comes to you through the crack in the door," she explains. "It's not as invasive as someone being right there in your face."

Michelle Tumes, who is also featured on the project, agrees. "There's something that just grabs you about music and connects with your spirit and soul. You don't really know what it is, and that's the beauty of it."

Maybe part of the reason we don't often open up about the pain we're feeling is due to the response we get when we do.

"Christians are trained to be helpful," Bourgeois explains when asked why we're so often tempted to offer pat answers to complex problems. "It's the non-creative, easy way out for a lot of people to recite something they've been taught... It's not wrong, it's just not necessarily the first piece of help someone needs."

One thing that makes Streams unique, refreshing even, is that it openly acknowledges that healing is a process that can't be speeded up with quick fixes or easy solutions--even with God on your side.

"We tried to not be tutorial and come with some kind of ready answer," Balman says, explaining that "in my life, when things have been at their toughest, the people that had the most amount of impact were the ones that would sit there and cry with me."

Bourgeois was also committed to taking listeners through the process of healing rather than just focusing on the end result. "For that reason, I think this record has a longer shelf life," he says.

And a different feel.

"A lot of times when people are really hurting they're just told to 'come on, get on with it. Jesus is the answer,' which He is, but there are certain stages of healing and renewal and rejuvenation in that process," Tumes says.

Other artists involved with the project agree.

"When I have been in a place in my life where I have gone through something really difficult, I don't want someone to try to cheer me up. I want them to hurt with me," says Cindy Morgan, whose father died unexpectedly as this project was being recorded. In tribute, the orchestral piece, "For Cova," is named for him.

Maybe it's not solutions we're looking for when we're hurting anyway. "It seems less of an issue these days to have an answer," says Amy Grant, who adds vocals on Delirious' Streams song. "Really what people are asking is, 'Am I alone in this? I know that you can't fix it, but will you just be with me in this?'"

That's what this album seems to be all about, coming along side someone who's hurting and sharing your own pain with them while gently helping them learn to hope again. And for some, walking through that darkness leaves them surprisingly lighthearted.

"It's refreshing to address the deep down, dark, depressing things. A lot of times you just talk about the other side," says Shelley Breen of Point of Grace.

If artists have traditionally tended to focus on the bright side, though, it could be because they haven't always been encouraged to share their struggles. Just by virtue of the fact that they're on a stage which forces concert goers to physically look up to them, we often expect them to have things more together than the average Christian. It's as if because they've been blessed with beautiful voices or musical ability, they're also bound to be more talented in the area of spiritual growth.

"People go through dry periods in their Christian life--we all do. If anyone says they don't, then they're lying," Irish songstress Máire Brennan says plainly.

For many, it was a relief to be allowed to be real.

"We're involved in a project like this because basically we're struggling ourselves as Christians and as people, so to put on the smiley face is just not natural for us. That's what made it very cool to be a part of this. We got to be ourselves," explains Burlap to Cashmere's Johnny Philippidis.

That doesn't mean this is an album full of self-indulgent artists wallowing in their own pain. Nor does it offer listeners an excuse to wallow in theirs. While Streams is careful not to offer easy answers, it does consistently point people to the God who can always handle our questions.

"This record is an attempt at giving reminders to people about where to look," Balman explains. "Look at God. Look at Him. Talk to Him. Ask Him again. Hold on to Him."

And while the project unarguably digs deep into those dark places, it's really about healing, which means it's not the heavy listening experience some may expect.

"I don't think this album is a really dark album. It has all different shades of healing, and it offers so much hope," Tumes says.

It's true. Songs like Morgan's wrenchingly beautiful "Job" are balanced by Point of Grace's inspirational "Forever On and On." And the heavier cuts have an appropriate place on this project insists Chris Rodriguez, who sings "Sanctuary," a song penned by Michael W. Smith, 4HIM's Mark Harris and Balman. "As much room as there is for praise & worship songs, there's just as much room for lamentations," Rodriguez says.

Some of those lamentations are sung by pretty interesting pairings. Jon Anderson of '70s rock band Yes was invited to join 4HIM in the studio when Bourgeois found him recording next door. Then there's Grant partnering with Delirious on "Find Me in the River."

How did that one come about? "It's kind of an interesting time for me personally to be working on a project about streams in the desert," Grant confesses, explaining that "I did want to participate [but] quite honestly I didn't want to be a frontrunner." Besides, she adds, "Collaborating at this stage is one of the most fun things."

Another pleasant surprise is the slightly revised version of Peter Gabriel's 1986 "Don't Give Up," sung by Máire Brennan and Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers). "It's almost a Job-type song," Bourgeois explains, especially after a few lines were changed so that the song is now sung as if God is doing the comforting (in the original version Kate Bush took on the role of a more human comforter to Gabriel's downtrodden soul). When contacted for permission to make the revisions, Gabriel's camp responded within 24 hours and the multi-talented singer/songwriter even expressed interest in singing the duet with Máire Brennan himself, but he was already a year behind on current projects. Bourgeois wasn't too disappointed since he'd been after McDonald for 15 years to join him in the studio.

The album ends with the Irish Film Orchestra providing some music Balman hopes will allow listeners to meditate on what they heard on the previous 10 cuts. What at first may seem like a departure from the rest of the album is actually a complimentary inclusion. For Bourgeois it was "a no brainer." Who better to turn to than the Irish for music about hurt and healing? "Ireland bleeds as a country," he says, and that comes through in the music.

In addition to the musical choices and the interesting artist pairings, another thing that makes Streams work so well is Bourgeois' commitment on the front end to make it not sound like a bunch of different artists each lending a song to a compilation project. Instead, he says, "I was determined to make this sound like one person did it and try to glue it together in a way that left the listener feeling like they had one full listening experience."

One way he did that was by keeping the players the same from song to song. Another was by keeping writers to a minimum. Morgan collaborated on two songs, drawing on her experiences in Israel, at Masada in particular, to bring to life that desert feeling. Tumes, who sings one of Morgan's songs, also wrote two songs specifically for the project, one sung by Jaci Velasquez and the other, co-written with John Mallory and Leigh Nash, went to Sixpence. To make the project even more cohesive, Bourgeois collaborated with Tumes and Morgan as well as writing one song himself. Tumes also lent her background vocals to five of the 10 songs on the album, and Breen gamely pitched in, singing behind Velasquez and Tumes on their cuts.

All that cooperation could come off as a bit forced, but the artists seem genuinely excited about the project and positive about the process. Maybe all that singing about healing has had a restorative effect, allowing competitive lines between labels--and artists--to disappear.

Whatever the reason, when Nash says she can't wait to get to know the whole project better, adding that "Cindy Morgan's song is beautiful. I need to listen to that, like, 100 more times," you can't help but believe her.