Years ago I stumbled upon an article on the work of Leonard Cohen, in which he said, on the subject of his creative process, “if I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.” I found this fascinating then and I still do, because it always seemed too good to be true, the idea that a master storyteller and poet like Cohen could have little say in how his ideas come…
The other day I stumbled upon an old conversation between Steven Dubner and Richard Thaler. If you’re at all familiar with the Freakonomics body of work – the books, podcasts, and blogs – then you’re most definitely familiar with Dubner. Richard Thaler is just as, if not more legendary, as one of the pioneers of behavioural economics, and more pertinent to this post, a Nobel laureate. Thaler won the Nobel Prize in Economics in the…
Earlier this week I came across a curious fact courtesy of one of my favourite podcasts, No Such Thing As A Fish. According to a recent survey, nearly half of American men feel confident that they can land a plane in an emergency. This reminded me of a TED talk by Tali Sharot I came across years ago, which reveals that most people believe they’re better than average drivers, most people believe they’re more attractive…
I’ve had a tough week in more ways than one. It started out like any other week but then, out of the blue, I was met with a string of rejections, in my music, my writing, my art. They came in quick succession so that by hump day, Wednesday, I felt like the whole world was ganging up on me, conspiring to make me as miserable as possible. And it was working. But here’s the…
How do you feel about the word boredom? Does it make you want to curl your fists up in a ball? Is it something you go out of your way to avoid at all costs? Does the mention of the word send shivers down your spine? If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions, you’re not alone. Boredom as a concept is something we rage against as a society. Boredom is…
I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about motivation and drive. I’ve been interrogating my thoughts, trying to understand what drives me, what motivates me to do the things I do, why I want the things I want, and why I’m on the path I’m on. These are big questions, so it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I’ve come up short on the answers. But that’s okay because I didn’t think it’d…
Following on from last week’s post, I thought I’d celebrate my new release – Feels Like Rain – with a bit of an exposition on the song’s lyrics and the poem it inspired. I wrote this song one hot afternoon a couple of summers back. I was sitting by the canal, watching the surface of the water glisten in the sun, when it all came to me. If you’ve lived in or visited Manchester, then…
This week I’ve decided to do something different from the usual sort of ideas-based blog post. We’ll be back to normal programming next week, but for now, to celebrate the release of my latest single – Feels Like Rain – which came out on Friday, I’ve composed a short poem. It’s called – wait for it – Feels Like Rain… Rain is much despised in these parts Because we get copious amounts of it But…
This is a note to self, a journal of sorts. You might find it relevant too… A few years ago, when I made the bold decision to step out as an artist and make my music public, a friend of mine told me about a global organisation that organises intimate shows and concerts in amazing spaces. I looked into it and my first thought was that it would be a dream to play one of…
This is a note to self, a journal of sorts. You might find it relevant too… Last week I introduced the idea of the never-ending conflict between the desires of the present self and the needs of the future self, and how we tend to prioritise the former at the expense of the latter, against our best interests. I introduced a cursory explanation of why this is the case, leaning on scientific literature which shows…