The following text is from a blog I wrote a few years ago about Aphex Twins and Lucid Dreaming, I think it captures what I was going for with this album....
How can we as creators use this example to further inspire our own works? I am not professing that all of you should try and develop the ability to have lucid dreams (although it does sound rather cool) but instead to consider how you can alter your mental state, decision making process, and work habits to be more aware and proactive in the creative process. I will start with a personal story:
A while back, I made an album called “MNO SLEEPS…. Marimba Sessions”. I had 2 purposes to make this album;
I had always wanted to make a solo marimba CD for the simple reason that I love the sound of the instrument.
I wanted to make an album that one “felt” rather than actively listened to; To create music that you would not notice until it was no longer playing.
To answer both these needs was a challenge, as I wanted to showcase the sound of the instrument, not my ability to play the instrument. I needed to remove my ego from the creative process. My ego would say to me, “play fast and do hard things so everyone will know you are a “good” musician”. My ego is unfortunately rather strong so I needed a way to mitigate the power of the ego so as to attain my creative goals.
I would have to alter my mental state....
A while back, I made an album called “MNO SLEEPS…. Marimba Sessions”. I had 2 purposes to make this album;
I had always wanted to make a solo marimba CD for the simple reason that I love the sound of the instrument.
I wanted to make an album that one “felt” rather than actively listened to; To create music that you would not notice until it was no longer playing.
To answer both these needs was a challenge, as I wanted to showcase the sound of the instrument, not my ability to play the instrument. I needed to remove my ego from the creative process. My ego would say to me, “play fast and do hard things so everyone will know you are a “good” musician”. My ego is unfortunately rather strong so I needed a way to mitigate the power of the ego so as to attain my creative goals.
I would have to alter my mental state....
To attain this I decided to perform all the original tracks for the album while in a state of extreme tiredness. (Too tired to consider whether I was playing well or not). I set up all the recording gear; record enabled the DAT player, stayed up all night, and in the morning, entered the recording studio, hit the record button and played the marimba until I could no longer stand up. (4-5 hours/session) I did this 2 consecutive nights. The process was horrible, I felt like crap the entire time I was playing, but the tracking was what I was looking for and think it is the purest, honest playing I have ever done, and the resulting album succeeded far beyond my imagination.
I hope that didn't all sound to pretentious, I was young.....
I hope that didn't all sound to pretentious, I was young.....