it's the big one, are we ready?
calling out in the canyon, hoping for a reply
it’s wierd to think about, but the major part of my job as a recording artist is often the thing i get to do least. i am more often a driving artist, a graphic designing artist, a carrying heavy amps artist, a performing artist, a booking alot of hotels artist, and in this pando a livestreaming artist and a teaching artist, who has actually spent most of their time this last 16 months outside.
but recording music and releasing it, which is the main way people find out about me, the main legacy and permanent record i leave behind, is the thing i do the least. believe it or not, it’s been almost a decade since my last full-length album, MANIFESTRA, arrived. mind you, in the meantime, i haven’t been a slacker or anything. i made two EPs where i essentially played all the instruments and wrote two musicals including an off-broadway one, along with orchestrating and producing the cast recording.
but before this past december, it had been a very long time since i was in a recording studio with a producer, with a band, making my own music. it was a heady feeling for sure. and a reassuring one. i still know how to ride a bike! but the aftermath has also had the feel of a slowly tightening guitar string, getting higher and higher with more and more pressure building beneath my fingertips.
i share my music out of two impulses. the first is a kind of sweet, innocent, small fry-like “look what i made” feeling. i think of it as a kiddo toddling up to a parent and proudly showing off their interpretation of a house. another more adult way of putting it is i imagine i am deep in a canyon. i call out:
“is anyone there?”
and then very faintly, or sometimes strongly, comes the response.
“yes! we are!”
in this exchange maker and listener receive each other and know we are alive together. this is sacred to me, and every echo that comes back, online, in person, however it arrives, is a blessing.
the second impulse for sharing is even simpler: making music helps me. and if making music helped me, maybe it will help you. another way to think of this is that i am a chef. i have made a huge tub of ice cream, oysters, gnocchi or [insert your comfort food]. i made too much and have plenty left over. want some? let me fix you a plate!
i’ve been meditating on these impulses because the sense of a tightening guitar string has made me more acutely anxious and contemplative than usual. i am ramping up to what? and why?? releasing music costs a lot of money!! it takes a lot of time!! a lot of people are involved!! and it feels like there is a lot of pressure because it has been so long since i recorded something. but pressure to do what exactly? to get more what? isn’t what i have already enough? aren’t we enough?? i have to constantly go back, check in with my two foundational impulses, and remind myself to take a deep breath.
this is where you come in. i am going to need your help, and a lot of it, in the next few months.
the official “campaign”, as they call it, begins in august and lasts through the end of the year. and in all of these “campaigns”, there’s an order to things, a taxonomy of songs. i try to stay out of this. it’s not for me to decide what song should be presented to what audience of gatekeepers in what order. that's why i hire professionals. besides, i don’t want to make music thinking what song will be the “single” or “focus track” as they now call it.
but let’s be real. i do have feelings about my songs and hopes for them. so outside of the scope of the official campaign, i am releasing a few things early, just for us. i don’t want to spoil all the surprises i have in store for you, but everything starts next week. you’ll get an email with an exciting subject line and when you open it there will be something entirely new for you to listen to and look at. that will be just the beginning.
now, what i need from you is this, and i can't stress enough how much of a difference this will make in the months ahead:
first off, i would love for you to take the time to listen and watch. maybe a few times.
if what i have made pleases you, or feels useful, i need to hear about it. you can always write me or tag me on social media. let me know the call in the canyon has been heard.
most importantly is for you to try to convert someone into a listener of my music. share! evangelize! facilitate someone going to a show or even just being able to hear or see what i am doing.
of course these monthly newsletters are a way to stay in touch, to share ideas and actions that excite me and maybe will excite you. but at the core, you are here because you like my music. it's that simple. so now i am calling that in and asking you to mobilize on behalf of me. there! i have said it clearly. it's time to mobilize on behalf of me and the music that i have made that i cannot wait to share with you.
we start next week. are we ready???
x erin
¡ME GUSTA! : SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS
the linda lindas shout the righteous truth. never mind that they range in age from 10-16 and their most famous gig was at a library.
speaking of righteous truth, check out this video from filipina MC ruby ibarra. the best thing i have seen in quite a while.
i met lucas schaefer at an artist residency in florida. he mostly writes about boxing in texas, but here he writes about a profound experience he had in kenya.
this woman takes multi-tasking to a new level.
take some time and journey to the center of the bowling ball.