Time Travel

As someone whose job it is to express myself, I spend a good amount of my time reliving past experiences. As someone who has big goals and many many things to accomplish, I spend a lot of time looking forward and making plans. This arrangement provides for very little time living in the here and now. For a long time that was reflected in my creative process - the moments/ emotions/ experiences that eventually become songs were always washed through months of internal processing before coming out as melodies and lyrics.

Recently, for some reason, I've been tackling the subjects that cut closest to the bone at that very moment. The writing of these songs is more spontaneous, unexpected, and satisfying than in the past - yet the results seem more thoughtful and well constructed. Maybe my skill set has simply improved to the point that I can musically accommodate lyrical ideas more quickly - the music can respond to where the words are going, instead of shaping words around music written at another time and place. Maybe I'm just more sure of where I stand and don't have to take as long to process. Then again, maybe I'm less sure. Perhaps embracing that desperate uncertainty - without measuring, rationalizing, or sanitizing - is what makes these songs so much more alive. Either way, I can not wait to get them down, recorded, and in your ears.

...there I go making plans again.

-Russell