I took a couple of days off from the studio to rest my ears and restore some creative energy.

I went back in and took stock.

Of 16 tracks currently in production, in terms of sound and production, 6-10 are easily among the best pieces I have ever produced. Another 2-3 need some TLC. And 2-3 are not too bad. That’s a startlingly solid foundation for a 12 track record; I’ve never had this level of confidence in “how things are sounding” this early in the process. Given the fact the survival ratio of demos : tracks in production has only been about 3:1.

Limiting one’s options can open up expansive creative vistas.

A Wise Guy

The surprise one that has me most excited is an old demo from about 1989 or so. It had a pretty tricky drum part and unfortunately the MIDI drums were struggling to land the notes where they need to be. And in the moment I didn’t have the patience to go in and move 200 notes around.

I decided to make it sound more like a drum machine and started experimenting with cheesy drum sets. Then popped an obnoxious funky (for me) bass part on it. That released the bats; the song is going to be out of control good IMHO. And I was right on the edge of binning it.

I was talking to my friend as we ran through falling snow the other day. We were talking about dissecting one’s successes. We agreed that the biggest breakthroughs—and even the most educational failures—come from being fearlessly creative. It’s so easy to be safe as an artist; I see it around me all the time across all expressive media. Pretty much everything interesting and remarkable I’ve created has its genesis in a “what if…” moment or the fruit of a happy accident manifested by going off the edge of the map.

So it’s a strange paradox. I started this project wanting to do something “new and different” while at the same time setting a vision for something closer to where I started, quirky pop-rock with simpler arrangements and purer tones. Interestingly, “less is more” is also true in a creative sense on this occasion. Limiting one’s options can open up expansive creative vistas.