A Little Help From My Friends
Hey, hi, hello š
Short edition coming in hot! Alright friends, indulge me. So currently, the weekly format exists as such:
ā¢ Occasionally lengthy philosophical meandering
ā¢ A Song To Study
ā¢ An Album to Live In
Pretty simple I'd say, but I'd like to add one more update to the list on weeks where applicable. I'd like to start another section for community recommendations! If I'm assigning you all a Song To Study each week, I would like for you, if you feel so inclined, to do the same for me. Each week I will make it a point to listen to each submission and then add my favorite from the pool to the upcoming edition with a dedicated shout out to whomever the tastemaker was. So, if there are any songs that you can't stop hitting the repeat button on, simply reply to this email and send me the link, and if you desire, include some thoughts on it, let me know what it does for you! I'm feeling short on words this week, so I'll just share the following:
The feeling you get during this time of year when you're cozied up in your living room watching festive movies, the room softly glowing with the light from your Christmas tree. That's one of my favorite senses of peace that I look forward to every year. Add some gingerbread cookies and your loved ones to the mix and you got yourself a filled cup.
Liza and I are in the early planning stages of relocating our life back to New York City. I think the hardest thing to handle right now is the possibility of making a mistake and coming to regret the move. Leaving behind such a comfortable and abundant life in LA for a notoriously tougher brand of living is obviously scary. I keep asking myself: what hurts more? A mistake or a regret? Maybe more on that next week.
As always, if you feel like sharing your answers to the prompts above with me I would love to receive that! On to the music. For some reason I decided to contain this week's tunes to the choir/chamber music genre. So if you feel like splitting your soul from your body with some soaring vocal arrangements, look no further!
š§ A Song to Study
This year has marked the first step towards my inevitable full submersion into the genre of choir/chamber music and eventually, Opera, I'm sure. What is it about the cacophony of dozens of voices singing in unison that stops us in our tracks like nothing else? It's almost as if we're surprised that our humble little species was able to create something so undeniably ecstatic! Do we give pause out of shock because at times it's hard to remember how much rich beauty we can actually create, or do we stop because we have likely gone far too many days without realizing how beautiful we can be? I invite you to explore that same curiosity. When you're listening please challenge yourself to put your phone out of reach for the 4 minutes and 9 seconds required of you here. As usual, Midjourney had its fun with the feelings it elicits in me.
š” An Album to Live In
This is, without a doubt, the weirdest album I've yet to recommend. The compositions within are all based on Lithuanian folk songs that have been revisited and translated into a borderline chamber music, yet borderline ambient medium. This is a quiet listen that is best utilized as you're trying to get into the flow of a project/work, or with fully committed attention, cup of tea in hand and ears perked and ready to rock. The album art here does a really great job at capturing the energy inside. this album feels like getting lost on a camping trip and while trying to find your way back home you end up accidentally venturing deeper into the woods, only to stumble upon an ancient amphitheater of elven people composing music for the woodland creatures. This discovery initially disturbs you but eventually you find yourself surrendering to the novelty of the experience and finding relish within. I don't have much more to say on this album outside of you won't regret giving it a stream and you may end up living in it for some time to come. Enjoy.
š Until next time...
I understand how sacred privacy is in our day and I feel tremendously honored when someone trusts me enough to let me into their inbox week after week. Thanks for being here ā¤ļø.
