take hold of me
new year + thoughts on songwriting + unreleased demo
Hello!
It’s another great year on planet earth. There are many things on my mind. Admittedly I’ve started the year on a fairly cynical note - I’ve been reading Mood Machine by Liz Pelly, a fantastic but mostly harrowing book about Spotify and the streaming era. I’ve been a Spotify defender in the past, largely because I feel the common arguments against it are misinformed and don’t take into account that there are many artists (including myself) who are able to make a living from music where they couldn’t before. This book will shut me up, though.
The way we engage with art has changed so much in the last 5 years. I try to stay out of it, to forge my own way, but I’m as guilty as any to just wanting nice inoffensive music to put on while I walk home. It’s hard to stay optimistic. Things will probably get worse before they get better.
To be an artist in this time - oh what to do! As everything crumbles around us I am relieved that no one can tell me anything other than to just keep making music. There’s no secret path to success that I’m missing.
I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution. I just want to play shows. I love making music at home and I already have a few releases planned - but it doesn’t hold a candle to the feeling of playing in front of people. I’m not a natural performer. It freaks me out. Some formative experiences as a teenager almost turned me off playing shows for good. I enjoy the challenge now, it puts me well and truly out of my comfort zone.
If all things go to plan I will play all over the world this year. Fingers crossed.
Over the break I read most of Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison. I’m fairly self conscious about my lyrical abilities. I’m proud of many things I’ve written but I’ve always thought there’s more I could be saying.
Most of my favourite songwriters lie somewhere within the folk tradition. Jeff Tweedy, Adrianne Lenker, Gillian Welch… Their words inspire me in ways that other’s can’t. The form that their songwriting takes, though, I’m not sure if my own writing aligns much with it. I famously hate writing second verses. I’m not particularly interested in telling a story. I just want to express something, to get it out and move on. If I’ve said all I need to say then I don’t see the point in expanding or polishing just for the sake of tradition. Basically every song I wrote before the age of 21 was under 2 minutes. If it was longer it was probably mostly empty space.
In LA a few years ago, I had a meeting with an indie producer who has made some of my favourite music in the world. He listened to a few songs and told me that the production was perfect, but the songwriting could use some work. In many ways I agreed! When you are writing and producing yourself, it’s easy for one thing to fall short. The timing didn’t work out for us to make anything together on that trip, but later I felt that I wasn’t so interested in pursuing that path.
We all dream of making music that sounds exactly like our heroes. I suppose I would kill to have an album where I’m backed by Wilco, or produced by 40. But would it just be an imitation? Dressing up in someone else’s clothes? Shouldn’t people come to my music to hear what comes out of my brain - the amalgamation of all these different worlds?
Probably!
Anyway. I came here to share one of the unused songs from the album. I think it came a little late in the process and there wasn’t a place for it. I hope you’re all still enjoying the music. All good if not!
‘take hold of me’
Talk soon,
Eddie
As a visual artist, I lack empathy for the challenges that come with the streaming era for you, Eddie, but general visibility as an artist of any medium--music or visual art--in the present age is tough, so remember you're not alone. I can stop listening through to the new album on SoundCloud. Thank you for what you create, it's brilliant, my friend. I can't wait for what's next
listening to the song while reading. this is beautiful