Lyrics - Brave

These lyrics were inspired by the Native American story, during our journey across the USA:

20150919 Brave


BRAVE

You are young, your fear finds my eyes,
I can taste it,
You have come, your gun in your belt,
And I pity

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Album of the Week

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(Photo from www.wonderlandmagazine.com)

The debut album from Oh Wonder is, in some ways, not really a debut. Their delighted fans will have been following the monthly release of each single since last September.

But me, as a new discoverer of Oh Wonder, I was unable to unlock all of its treats in one blissful go...

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An Artist in Turmoil

It has been a little bit too long since I last shared with you all...

And the reason?

Turmoil...

OK, perhaps that sounds a tad melodramatic, and it probably is. But the truth is, life has been largely unsettled and un-routined for the past several weeks. With moving back to Asia, starting a new school and picking up old projects, without a permanent place to stay or organised belongings, I have felt... to put it lightly, flustered...

20150908 Studio

And it has got me thinking about the parameters that I seem to require to be creative.

This isn’t to do with productivity; I can get things done, whether it is writing papers or moving projects forward or practicing scales.

It is more about creating the right environment, both internal and externally, to foster creative thinking and outputs.

One of the things that I have often found strange is my need to have a tidy and organised creative space. This feels in some ways atypical for an artist - the classic picture of the creative genius is one of a studio littered with sketches, semi-read books, coffee cups, notes, and the occasional odd sock or half eaten sandwich. My husband’s studio is often like this, a highly complex mass of cables and equipment, with several things piled up on and under and around the desk. I wonder how he can see through the chaos.

I also have to tick everything else off of my to-do list before I can give myself over to the wash of creativity that trying to be an artist requires.

In essence, I have to clear my physical and my mental slates.

And I wonder why.

Perhaps it is that I don’t assign enough priority to just taking time to create. Other needs become more pressing; I would love to call my mum, I need to pick up something for dinner, so-and-so is expecting me to send her my review... These things are important. But should they top the list and stop me from doing what I call my first passion?

Perhaps it is just a focus issue; my husband is able to (sometimes unwittingly) give 100% of his attention to whatever he is doing. It makes me jealous! I can’t help but be distracted by the nagging to-dos and visual anomalies that surround me.

Perhaps it is lack of routine; if there was a time and space that was repeatedly given to music and writing, maybe I would be able to look past the usual obstacles and get into the discipline of creating.

But I think, one thing has to be true for all of us who have to create: your space should be a little haven. It should be a stimulating and peaceful place, where art is glorified as the highest achievement. It should be somewhere that you long for, get lost in, a creative womb where your most spectacular ideas can be birthed.

In Hong Kong, it will be hard to devote a whole room to creative space since the number of square feet at my disposal will be severely limited!

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But, I will find a perfect corner of our little home, and keep it sanctified as my little temple of creativity.

How do you set up yours?

Made

Do you remember when people just used to have two pairs of clothes: their working clothes and their Sunday Best?

There were no massive January Sales, no Black Friday, no walk in closets. And there were no sweatshops in Bangladesh, the Philippines or Venezuela to make our $7 t-shirts.

No, I don’t remember either...

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Song of the Week

Neverending Fountain - S. Carey

Driving through the changing landscapes of this beautiful country, my song of the week this week reflects both the subtlety with which the nature around me is changing, and the layers upon layers of matter that are pouring into me.

Neverending Fountain is rich, layers of sumptuous sounds; strings that are plucked, strummed, teased and shimmering, Carey builds bricks of sound that create a fortress of light.

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Song of the Week

Plastic - Moses Sumney

Moses’ EP seems to be a beautiful concoction of all things mysterious. His voice is rich yet raspy. His songs minimal yet bursting.

Plastic’s lyrics resonate incredibly with where I am at: “I know what it is to be broke and to be bold”. Isn’t it so true that our boldness has to come from being broken? If we are not broken and stripped down to our cores, knowing who we truly are, our boldness will always be fickle and fleeting.


20150601 Moses

www.mosessumney.com

Open Mic, Open Heart

So I’m here: in the place where men and women from across the globe come to try and make their dreams a reality.

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New York City. In some ways it feels cliché, trying to get started with music in the Big Apple. In some ways it feels like searching for a needle in a haystack... except that I’m the needle... and I don’t know who is doing the searching...

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Song of the Week

If You Wait - London Grammar

Well, this is a little bit of a leaving song since it has been a week of leaving. Amazing, yearning vocals, longing lyrics.

And if you wait, if you wait
I will trust in time that we will meet again
If you wait”


I won’t lie... it made me a little teary as I was thinking of all the goodbyes.

20150420 London Grammar

Direction

We are coming close to the date of our departure for the USA. And the album launch. And trying to get everything finished up with our Hong Kong roles before we leave.

But yesterday we took some time to work on a music video. As much as I have worked around cameras and help produce videos very often, I still get pretty nervous when I have to stand in front of the camera. What do you do with your hands?! ...

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