I’ve been doing some soul searching recently in terms of artistic identity. I’ve known for a long time that my multi-hyphenate professional persona was preventing me from getting shit done. Turning these once enjoyable hobbies of mine into work had sapped some of the joy out of them and led me to focus on the wrong things - namely how to organize my website to showcase these things - instead of actually making things.
Going forward I’m getting back to where it all began for me - I am a musician.
That isn’t to say I’m not also a magician and a photographer. But I’m not going to be advertising those as services any more. I’ll still perform magic for a paying audience again, and sell prints - but those things are no longer at the forefront of my mind. I will continue to enjoy them and remain a dedicated student.
And boy does that feel good to put into words.
For the longest time I’ve been unable to enjoy ANYTHING as a hobby. I quickly want to find out as much as I can about a subject, which leads to a desire to pursue it professionally AND be the best I can at it, “otherwise what’s the point?”
Whether it was coding websites or videography to name just a couple, these things all took me away from what I knew in my heart was my true calling. Not to say there’s anything wrong with continuously learning - I happen to believe we should remain curious until the end, but curiosity can kill the proverbial cat and be a form of procrastination.
With all that in mind - I have streamlined my website to reflect this renewed focus on music, and I am committing to you all that new and exciting things are being created for your listening pleasure.
This newsletter / blog is my way of sharing all of the bits and bobs I’m working on and will be where I announce the release of new music first.
To kick things off, here are six improvised pieces I recorded last week using piano and a couple of effects. I recorded for these in around thirty minutes without any preconceived ideas - I like to do this daily before I start any kind of “serious” work. It’s my equivalent of “morning pages” for those of you who journal. I put these recordings on my YouTube channel in a playlist called “Dear Diary.”
Yes, you can hear the rain hitting the roof and windows of my studio.
Not everything I share will have a kaleidoscopic video, sigh, but I’m also constantly experimenting with and designing sounds to use as I gear up to gathering material for an album. As a way of me keeping those sounds organized, I’ll be adding any sounds I find interesting to this Soundcloud playlist.
So until next time, thanks for choosing to be here, watch this space, and please share this post with someone you think may be interested in my music.