Ever since I was little, my creative identity has been tied up in being a writer. I can look across my living room and see the journals I've stacked up since 2015, ranging in colors and sizes, all filled with personal entries, songs, coffee stains, and life plans. It is a practice that I cannot owe enough to in my life, to helping me understand what's under the surface of my consciousness.
The music that's always spoken to me the most directly is lyrical music - if I can't connect to the lyrics, I often struggle to connect to the piece as a whole. I soaked up the worlds of Fiona Apple and Tori Amos as a teenager, in conjunction with learning standards by the great singers Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. Wise women influences were, and still are a big part of what shapes my music.
It has been an interesting journey to venture into the world of improvised, non-lyrical music. How can you tell a story without using words? I think in a lot of ways, that's the whole point of music. To tell a story, to convey an emotion, using more than just words. That's why for the big, complicated emotions, those journal entries often twist into poetry, which inevitably finds it's way over music.
A friend recently suggested that I start writing on my website. I've had resistance to it because there is something cool and glamorous about the mysterious artist who shares nothing about their life. But maybe I can still write, and be mysterious....
I guess my intention here is to openly share some more about the messy, wonderful life that I've chosen. So I hope you enjoy my ramblings and occasional insights.
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