Stylistic Choices in Progress

THESE ARE MY OWN WORDS!

Today I want to share some thoughts about style. Ironically, the platform I use to make this blog offers the possibility of writing the entire article with artificial intelligence in a few seconds. All it takes is creating a title and hitting enter. Out of curiosity, I did…and after reading the first few paragraphs, I deleted all of the text that was generated because it was boring and completely irrelevant to me. So here are my thoughts - possibly also boring and irrelevant - but completely in earnest and my own - on the topic.

The question of style

As I'm working on new music, I'm confronted with the inevitable question of style for a future release. Those of you who know my musical past are aware that I have explored many different styles, going from Jazz to electronic music, from commercial to experimental, from acoustic to synthetic. I have mainly relied on instinct and emotional impetus, rarely on a specific request in a commercial job, when confronted with stylistic choices.

My last record..

"Sleeping Dragon”, for instance, was released in 2023, over three years ago. 

It was my post-COVID album. After the years of lockdowns and isolation, more than anything I wanted to record in the studio with real musicians, playing live, all together in one room. It was the most urgent, relevant thing to do for me at the time, the main impulse that dictated the sound of that record. I invited friends and musicians from all over the world to play on it with me, and it was a beautiful and satisfying experience, with a (hopefully) interesting result. 

Now I’ve been working on new material on my own for about a year and a half, and I have so many new ideas for songs, melodies, lyrics… some are finished songs, demos; some are still rudimentary. All in quite different styles. Depending on my mood, I oscillate between wanting to do a record at my home studio, using only voice, piano, maybe the spinet, my Synths, Minilogue, Juno 60, or guitar. The Instruments I have here. One day I want to write complex piano counterpoint as an accompaniment, 

Other days I'm tempted to explore electronic sounds, make more upbeat choices using mostly synthesizers, grooves, Music that can make people dance, Music that works at night for a more energetic crowd. In confidence, I even explored making a record using only my voice and church organ. Today, for instance, I'm back to wanting to record at my home studio with piano and simple instrumentation, but only last month I was leaning towards electronica. 

In my head, a cacophonic choir of voices..

from friends and acquaintances who expressed their opinions, some invited, some uninvited, on what they think I should do in the future. I like to please, so opinions carry weight and importance in my mind. When fans reach out to tell me that my music matters to them, it means everything to me. It keeps me going on those days I feel less motivated. Many people who have known me for a long time think I should go back to the style that defined my band, Brazilian Girls.

It resonates..

And it resonates with me; I get it, I sometimes want to go back to that as well. But in truth, that music belonged to a period in my life when I was living in New York; I was younger, lived mostly at night, and worked and wrote most of the material together with Didi Gutman. Whatever we wrote together naturally sounded a certain way, because it was a combination of my melodies and lyrics with Didi's loops, grooves, and synth parts. In the studio, of course, we recorded a majority of the songs with Jesse Murphy on bass and Aaron Johnston on drums, which made the music even more driven and groove-oriented. Things change; my life changed, I've changed, I'm no longer the same person I was then, nor am I living in the same place; in fact, the entire world around me has drastically changed since then. Still, I have an urgent need to make music, to write, to explore, to perform; it's part of my DNA.

When I make music ..

..when I am really in it, when I sing and play, I feel deeply satisfied, even when nobody is listening. But the most gratifying experience in my life is to be immersed in song and connected with people listening, travelling in the sound waves with me. When the audience is all ears and hearts, when we are navigating in the moonlight together, feeling the waves tickling our boat, connecting to each other in mysterious ways, as if communing through the mystical language of sound: That's when I feel most alive. That’s when I'm not overthinking; I am present in my body and my soul, and I feel one with my surroundings. This is precisely my criterion for creating new music at present. What stylistic choices do I need to make in order to be able to connect with my listeners, to transport my listeners… to connect with you? 

In our world today, isn’t that most relevant?

The question..

How can we overcome division, isolation, duality, doubt, and fear, and connect in a meaningful way? How can Music be the instrument that helps humanity evolve and overcome the challenges we are facing? Although Music and professional musicians are facing harrowing challenges due to new technologies and corporate greed, 

I instinctively feel that music is more important today than it was decades ago because - in the absence of widespread practice of ritual and cult, which always includes song and sound - at least in western society, it is one of the few communal experiences left where there is a real connection, both spiritual and emotional between the musicians and listeners, between everyone present.

Why do we make music?

Most musicians or singers like me, who make music today, don't do it in order to be famous or wealthy, but because we feel a calling, a covenant with the invisible forces that move the universe. Those invisible forces, those fields of energy, are what I am eager to access once again, by means of my voice and words, in order to connect with you. The purpose of this blog is the same: connecting with you. In fact, I won't correct anything in this article with AI out of sheer rebellion. Because this is from me to you, without any middlemen. Are you there?