Alright – so many of you have probably seen our Kickstarter
in the last few months, possibly our Trailer? Or maybe our first video
“Driftwood.” And all of those things are part of my new “Visual
Concept Album!”
But in talking to my family over the past few weeks, I
realized there are a few friends and family members (leaving age out of the conversation...), and maybe many other people out there
who have no idea what I’m talking about when I say that! So I just thought I’d
take a little chance to explain it a little more.
For DECADES, music videos have added something fresh and exciting to the songs we love. Anyone remember the days of TRL?? Man, my friends and I would watch that
for hours! And VH1 was one of the best channels to watch late at night. I
remember a huge variety of visual styles in these music videos. Some had
stories, where something important wasn’t revealed until the very end. Like
Coldplay’s “The Scientist” which told the whole story in reverse, and you don’t
realize it all started with a car accident until the very end (spoiler alert…).
Pretty epic. Or Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” had this epic steam punk,
kaldeiscoping animation?!? Also epic in a very different way. Other videos were
simple performance videos of a rock band, others were dance videos from pop
artists.
Can
you remember your favorite music videos? Which ones stick out in your memory??
Now think about how the world of YouTube has revolutionized
the music video market. Not only has it become and encyclopedia for these "pre-internet"
music videos, it’s now a brand new
market where anyone can upload a video from home at any time. We notice a lot
of the younger generation is posting their own videos from their bedrooms, and
gaining a huge following! All the artists who are making hits on the radio
right now (across all genres) likely have music videos for their hits, but I
can’t recall a single music video from one of these artists. Maybe it’s just
their superfans who watch these music videos, (or perhaps I’m just out of touch).
But with the internet, the TV is no longer our only source of music video
consumption. Like the radio, we don’t have to be limited by what they show us,
we can look up the most obscure bands, see their live videos, see their music
videos, even post our own vlog ("video blog" for older folks) about what we think
about them! The boundaries are so endless, it almost feels like the music
videos are after-thoughts in the industry. Is it too early to say that music
videos are starting to go out of style?? (Seriously, if it is, I want to know!
Cause I’m not over it yet!).
This EP has been a long process for me. All of these songs
started out as acoustic songs (which is why I’m also releasing the Acoustic B-sides
too). Once I got interested in producing, it was only natural for me to take
songs I knew well (like ones I wrote!) and develop those ideas in Ableton. But
once I started, each of those songs became like a whole new world to me.
It wasn’t just my story – how a singer-songwriter often tells his/her
story in sort of a universal way, it felt like a PLACE. I could see it, I could hear it,
and in lacing a group of songs together, I realized they told a story, MY
story, but also everyone’s story. And maybe this time, I didn’t have to tell
that story with “just” the music, I could also tell a visual story.
I walked into Massif Studios about one year ago, and told
them about my ideas. I was overjoyed that they were also inspired, and added so
much to my creative vision. It was awesome to get to practice our teamwork with
the single “Bombshell” made specially for Bombshell Beauty Salon in Las Vegas.
And it was even awesomer to develop this creative vision together for a video
series;
all 5 songs on the
EP string together to become one seamless video by the end.
We got some inspiration from Kanye’s “Runway,” which they
called a “full-length film.” Florence + The Machine did something similar
called “The Odyssey.” But they aren't traditional "films" as most what think of movies, they are semi-short artistic visions that create a pseudo-world inside the music album. Of course, who can forget Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” and new
Frank Ocean’s “Endless.” I admit, I am not the first person to think of this,
but I can see that it’s becoming more and more normal.
It’s exciting to
me, because in this way, the arts are now becoming collaborative, and that’s what I’ve enjoyed the most about
this process
Incorporating videography,
co-producing with the ideas in my imagination about these songs, and
incorporating costuming, makeup, and even stage design into the plots was the most inspiring collaboration! Bringing in different artistic experts, even contemporary dancers allowed other creatives to express themselves through my music. With the props, it was a new opportunity to have creative control in a new way! It’s almost funny because when we started “Driftwood,” I told Hunter
& Joey at Massif that I put together a Pinterest board with props I thought
would fit the video! And as I’m brainstorming how we should get it done, they
were like, of course, YOU do it! And it’s as if I had never thought of that
before. Wow, yeah! I can do it! I found a lot of amazing sterling silver props
at a Thrift store in Lakewood, CO and I designed some extra homemade dream
catchers, sun-catching driftwood pieces, and dried flowers to set the scene for
what I envisioned as this little hideout in the woods that I had. 
I drew a lot of inspiration for this first video “Driftwood”
from “The New World” (2005) about Pocahontas. I loved the cinematography and
the incorporation of Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major” has always stuck with me.
I aimed to capture
that whimsical, adventurous new world in our trailer and the soundscape made
specifically for the trailer.
We of course wanted to leave a bit for the imagination at the end
of both the trailer and the video, which will be continued in Video 2 set to
come out in January 2017. 
Specifically speaking, my Visual Concept Album is a story of
hopelessness and redemption. As we all navigate the treacherous waters of an
unpredictable journey, it’s often
not the things we
are prepared to face, but those which we are unprepared that truly catch us off
guard. The Album as a
whole is of course, meant to be universal and interpreted individually.
However, I can say that “Driftwood” is specifically about that calm moment in
your life when you know things are sort of too good to be true. It’s when you
almost feel that something is about to change, and you can’t say quite what.
The visuals represent an innocence, even a naivety, and an enjoyment of freedom
in nature. There is a whimsical and curious spirit to the videography as well
as the props and costuming we chose. As the ominous door suggests, this fairy
tale doesn’t last forever. I notice fairy tales are becoming almost as popular
in our culture today as vampires and superheroes. We have not, and may never
lose our love of fantasy and adventure.
Yet we recognize that this is not reality, and I believe
this entire
concept stems from a moment in all of our childhoods were we realize life is
not what we thought it was.
We long for a childlike freedom in the world, not
only from “adult responsibilities,” but from the heavy burdens we never knew
life could offer. And now I believe these tales are often our escape.
Although the visuals are whimsical and unburdened, the words
reflect those times in our lives where we are almost numb. We don't know how to
move forward, and know we cannot go back.
All we can say is, “I’ll make it through.” Reminding ourselves, almost
as if a mantra, this soon shall pass
It’s about going through our day to day and feeling almost nothing, apathetic
to things we once loved, perhaps distracted, perhaps full of regret or
loathing. Whatever it is, we may feel powerless, we may want to resist change
and keep things exactly as they were when we felt free and weightless. And now, as
we begin to feel the weight of the heavier things in life, we resist. That
is what “Driftwood” embodies to me. Going throughout one’s day, distracted with ordinary, unimportant tasks, but mentally trying to understand the apathy, trying to
dissect it and get to its roots, knowing that once we got there, it might be
even deeper pain awaiting. Yet there’s no looking back, only going forward.
Although the message of this album may sound dark, let me
remind you that there is redemption in the end, as life always ebbs and flows
in hills and valleys. I hope that it will offer hope to those who find themselves
in dark valleys and are lost and endless seas of confusion. Hope that these times in life that feel like endless centuries of
incurable pain, DO in fact soften and heal. I am beyond excited and proud to
show you the rest of the video series.
Please feel free
to comment, Q&A with me, and ask me anything!
Life is a dialogue, and a riddle. Thank you for
reading!