Notes On: Making Music, Still!

A Swift bit of satire and a look at why you'd keep at it even if nobody is listening. Featuring a couple of recordings of an acoustic instrumental piece called Gold Bottles.

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I have included two very rough versions of Gold Bottles in this post. They are recordings that feature lots of timing issues and bum notes but I am sharing anyway - think of them like excerpts from a notebook.

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“Are you still makin’ the music?”  
“Would you believe, I am.”
“Well fair play… anything good?” 
“Ah grand enough, yea.”
“Sure, isn’t it all the AI these days anyway? Not like the ol’ days I suppose.” 
“...”
“And sure hasn’t your one Taylor Swift taken over the whole thing? 
“...”
“...I wonder is she related at all to Jonathan?”
“Unlikely, but sure you never know…”
“You never know, indeed… I’d say she’d be partial to the aul’ horatian satire, all the same.”
“Oh?”
“Sure isn’t it a fool’s game, that music business? And her with all that success. She’s clearly taking us all for an aul’ walk at this stage.” 
“...”
“Sure look, fair play to her.”
“Ah yea, fair play.”
“...”
“...”
“So is it shite, or what?”
“Is what shite?”
“Your feckin’ music!”
“No! It’s not feckin’ shite… “
“...”
“it’s… foolish.”
“Oh, right... Keep at it so!”

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There is no choice in the matter when it comes to making music. If any extended period of time goes by where a sound is not captured - even if its a scratchy phone recording - the mind will be lost. It is a very similar with writing. None of this really feels like a choice. The urge is deep rooted, more like a necessity than a desire; neglect to exercise that urge and the mind and body will fester. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean anything is any good - some of it is proper shite, no joke. But it has been made and therefore it has happened and we move on from that - which feels good, and that is the point of it all.

Gold Bottles (Strawberry Jam Jam) (2012)

Gold Bottles, in particular has stuck around. Like a theme tune of sorts. And yet never really defined, no set way of playing it.

Early recordings: quite fast and full of virtuosity, tied in with motions of slide guitar and energetic strumming.

Later Recordings: much slower and patient, extra nuance to the motion between the notes, more parts or sections to move between.

This afternoon: stumbling between parts half remembered, falling back on the same old rhythm whenever it felt right.

Gold Bottles (2018)

It’s a private meditation, a practice to fall back on, something to explore. And sure, nobody ever hears it. But is that the point?

Foolish! Certainly yes, to some degree it is. Performing or publishing something can in itself motivate and focus the practice in its own right.

Just keep on at it, even if it never makes its way out of the harddrive or the livingroom or your head.

Keep on at it. Making music, still!

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This week I have indexed all the music I currently have publicly shared on Bandcamp and Soundcloud on a new Music page on www.notesandnoises.com. I will in time start to bring all of this together into one place and also publish new music for others to hear when it feels right. For the time being I hope this index page will give everyone who is new to my music a good broad overview of my sound.