Last week I wrote about a little appreciated ability of art to capture snapshots – little snippets or slices of our emotional state from the vast expanse of our lives. Photographs do this naturally, paintings and sketches too, but non-visual arts like music also excel at this, as I argued in last week's post.
This week, I've decided to hit two targets with one swipe by simultaneously expanding on the idea of music snapshots and promoting my new release, and I'll do so by exploring the story behind my 4-track EP which comes out in just under 3 weeks. This is fitting since the lead single – All Behind – is out now, and some kind words have been written about it. I've also had a few conversations and received some questions about it, and something that has come up more often than not is the story behind the songs, so in case you were wondering, here it goes.
All Behind (the EP) tells a story – in 4 tracks – of a relationship on the rocks. The protagonist starts out hopeful in See You Soon. Their long-distance relationship has taken its toll, but even through the hardship, there’s hope. Time passes, and the relationship doesn’t recover. The protagonist finds himself reminiscing in Old Time Sake. They’re clinging to remnants of the past and are struggling to let go. More time passes, and the sentiment changes as the protagonist plunges into despair and lets out their frustrations in As of Tomorrow. They’ve started to see the writing on the wall there, and whatever hope they had about saving or rekindling the relationship is long lost. With time, and space to heal, they realise there’s no point agonising over the past. The only way to live life is to let go, leave the past in the past, and look forward to new and better things. The protagonist makes a bold declaration that they’re leaving their frustrations All Behind, to pave the way for a better and brighter future.
I've told and written about this story a few times for music publications and outlets, and in my local music circles, and a question that usually comes up is whether I'm the protagonist. The answer is no, I'm not the protagonist, but I used to be. I’ll explain…
The first thing to acknowledge is that these songs are from a previous time. They’re now somewhat dated, having been birthed a few years ago and sat on for a while. What this means is that there's a version of me that experienced the pain and hardships expressed in those songs, and that version of me no longer exists because a lot of time and space has come between who I am now and who I used to be.
That said, that version of me isn’t necessarily lost or gone forever. It may sound paradoxical, but that version of me lives on in the art I made and the songs I wrote at the time. Even though a lot has happened and so much time has passed since I wrote those songs, each song immortalised a moment, capturing a time, a place, a feeling, and an emotion.
Each time I listen to any of those songs, it reminds me of someone I once was, people I once knew, and hardships I once faced. Now I look back on that boy and smile. I empathise with who he was, and it makes me thankful for how far I've come, and how much better things are for me now, personally and professionally.
This is one of the many functions music serves, the ability to capture and preserve moments in time so that we can look back on these moments and appreciate the journey of life.
You can listen to the full EP from the 25th of November everywhere you find your music, and you can listen to All Behind now. I'd love to hear what you think of it, please reach out and let me know.
PS: Just a reminder that the lead single of the new record is out now, everywhere. You can listen to it on several platforms. Please share it with a friend, share it with your social networks, and consider subscribing to the newsletter (below), my YouTube channel, or wherever else you listen to music.