Music Update

On August 28th my first single, Shimmer of Light will be released on streaming platforms. I’m excited and find it a little surreal. I don’t know how many levels of doubt and fear I needed to strip away to start down this road. Music has always been essential to me — listening, singing, dancing. How could I drive without it? How would I get through? Yet becoming a songster — that’s a bold embodying of music on a whole other level. Bridging the space from poetry into songwriting challenged me more than I expected it ought; it took months of persistence to find an entrypoint that worked for me — so  satisfying to break through and bond words to melody! But to learn to play guitar (still learning) and do that while singing in front of people takes all the courage I can muster. And recording requires a whole lot of faith in myself and my work.

I follow a couple of music promoters online and one compared three distribution services for independent artists and argued a preference for Symphonic. I decided to take her recommendation. Well, I don’t know about the others, but it took me about two weeks of plugging away for an hour or two a day, then eliciting my kid, Quinn’s assistance, to upload Shimmer to their platform. Four days ago…

I’ll be streaming under the artist name Kristinski, under Moon Notes Productions. One needs to come up with a label name to distribute music for streaming, which is as little-kid-code-word as anything I’ve come up with in my adult life. Pretty fun. If you give it a listen, I’d appreciate any information you can share on how it rolls out. Is it easy enough to find? What song played after? (I’m always curious what will roll after I stream friends’ songs.) Did the video show with the single or just a still photo? If you notice, does it show up on TikTok? I’d appreciate any info you can share — comment below or email after the 28th. Thanks! I’d love to work out the kinks before my next release.

I dropped Shimmer on Bandcamp last September and dragged my heels on the rest of it. My musicophile Godmother-cousin-hero, Kathy, told me I needed a video. Quinn felt strongly that the shots all needed to be taken outside to match with the moon, sun, river, and lake shots I collected last fall. They’re usually right. But last winter was no season to shoot outside! (Remember snowcrete? brrr.) So that needed to wait. I also procrastinated in hopes that I might find a good time to elicit Quinn’s help in video editing. I didn’t end up asking, knowing they’ve been fitting less of their desired personal aspirations than ideal into their limited energy around a persistent migraine. Instead, I turned to CapCut, that my 23-year-old, Coley, showed me to use for my speed paints, and put together the clips. Oh, I was close! But being a half-beat off with some audio-visual matchups gave the feeling of a poorly dubbed foreign film. I was willing to chalk it up to good enough is good enough, but Rich offered to help with that too. Here’s the video, followed by a pic of Rich and I sorting it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeQyZkhLNPU

I recorded A Day Without Weather at Rich’s home studio in April (backstory and video of an early version here). I hope to release that single in the next couple of months. I got to hear the mix when I returned to the studio in June and it’s incredible! I wrote the song for Baeley over a year ago and, since writing it, I’ve had the privilege to learn more about Baeley and the good fortune to get to know some of his wonderful, cool friends. I pray the song might serve as remembrance and also some small measure of comfort for all of those who love him. LLB! 

In June, I laid down tracks for Celestial Cartographer and I Rise. I love the process; so different from anything I’ve done before. I typically lay down rhythm guitar first. Sometimes I may do a scratch track, playing and singing it all for reference first. Then in the silent room, bracelets off to not rattle, staying a precise little-over-thumb-to pinky finger length distance from the mic, I sing through the song, usually through a few takes, headphones on (¾ on), while watching Rich for cues and gestured feedback. This probably represents as good as I get at acting — staying in character, in the feel of the song, focused, gathering the spirit of performance, not giggling. Four songs deep — looks like I’m heading toward an album. 

I wrote a song last month, Not the Drink, that, next to Weather, might be my new favorite. I’m working on finger picking for it and will be psyched to share it soon. We’ll see. I’m also working on other songs, my next poetry collection, a visual arts project, and all the life things. So it may stay strummed. (I want to do all the things!) I’m not sure when I’ll get back to the studio. Rich is working on an EP to get out soon —  a powerful and essential collection of songs that we need! His new single Free is phenomenal. I’m happy for him to go slow with my singles, especially if it means our having access to his EP sooner. I know adding back up vocals, lead guitar solos, drums… I believe there may be cello… and mixing takes a ton of time and effort. (Thanks, Rich!)

Next on deck for recording may be Stealing My Melancholy Away and Eli, which is my best known song locally, in part due to being covered by Wayne Unchained. His version, as well as recordings of many of my songs can be found on my YouTube channel. 

I started this post talking about courage. Another shade of that is, when we put something out there, even as we publish or post, we know that, after some time, as we devote ourselves to our crafts, we will likely be able to do better. We can’t wait. No time is promised and there’s something in art that asks to be shared. But as an artist, it’s entirely possible that one can look back at one’s own work with a cringe. I try to be gentle with myself around all of that and celebrate the doing more than the end result. Although it’s neat to record songs with a producer who can support the end result as something I can be proud of for sounding great, as well as all the rest (vision, grit and trying).

I do some of my originals with LiLaK, which is Lisa Marsh on lead guitar, Laura Outerbridge Evans on drums, and me on rhythm guitar (sometimes egg shaker, tambourine, or keys). We’re all on vocals. Lisa and Laura also write songs, although recently we’ve focussed on covers for a couple of sets we have coming up. I love the support and energy we give to each other’s original music. Don’t get me wrong, I love our covers too  —  an eclectic song selection that stretches me in unexpected directions. We practiced last night. I left it all in that room and came home exhausted. But that we encourage and uplift each other’s writing, adds a dynamicism to the band. We’re starting to seek out local gigs for the fall, if anyone would like to book us or share some connections, feel free to reach out. Here’s a link to our Facebook page. 

We’re coming up on our two year anniversary in a couple of months and it feels like we’re ready to take more on. At our last gig, a three hour private party, we played as LiLaK and also splintered off into variations. Greg, of The Marsh Brothers / Marsh Lovers fame, joined Lisa for a Marsh Lovers set. And Laura and I worked up some songs for our own set. Honestly, last year I don’t think I could have held up the guitar parts myself. I’m wildly satisfied to see evidence of progress, because I find it hard to notice in the day-to-day, with so many challenging things to work on that can often make me feel not so epic.

Learning guitar is one of the hardest things I’ve taken on and sometimes, I hate it. But really, once I sit down to play, I almost always play way longer than intended (obviously I love it) and it feels magic — Making Music. 

At the end of the day, I am grateful for many things — my kids, cats, running water, writing…, not least among them is time, space, resources, and support to make music.