The Snapshot

It’s always interesting to me when creators write a sort of explanation to their creations. Whether it’s a writer, visual artist or musician, it seems that artists commonly write a sort of treatise on their work. Since I’m working on an album at this very moment, I thought it would be enjoyable and beneficial to make one of my own. Much of these ideas have been covered in earlier blog posts but I’m ploughing ahead anyway.

First and foremost, an album is a snapshot. Just like anything, it came to be thanks to a series of events. Songs are inspired my experiences or thoughts that happened to the writer around the time of the album. The artist should act as a photographer and capture as much as he can in one shot.

This isn’t to say that an album shouldn’t represent more than a particular time for a particular person. In fact, if that was all that the audience could possibly get from an album, then it would be a failure. However, the artist shouldn’t attempt anything more though the snapshot should naturally depict more than initially meets the eye. The interpretation belongs to the audience not the creator.

Nonetheless, the artist should keep the audience in mind in writing from his/her own experiences. The ultimate goal of art is to reach others through exploration of ones own expression. It’s not about screaming “Look what I did for you!” or “I don’t care what you think of what I did.” The middle path is the one that should be taken. The art should invite the listener into the artist’s world and hopefully connect somewhere along the way.

Finally, it is important to be a unique voice in the ongoing conversation of tradition. This goes back to drawing from one’s own experiences. No two people have the exact same history so therefore artists should be as varied as people are. The artist must respect those who came before him/her without modeling him/herself after any particular figure from the past.

THIS FEELS REALLY PRETENTIOUS BUT IT’S NOT. I PROMISE.