Listening to My Creative Muse - One Song At a Time

Welcome back to Into the Forests I Go - it's been a minute, huh? I've been busy creating - more on that in a bit.

We're settling into Halloween and Vėlinės vibes here in Lithuania - that magical day when people gather in cemeteries to honor their ancestors. (I wrote a post on Vėlinės a couple years ago - check it out if you're curious.) I'm a big fan of Vėlinės and the continuous reminder that Lithuania has a strong, grounded connection to nature. It makes America feel so barren in comparison, but really, they're just different.

Speaking of, the leaves are currently varying shades of yellow, orange, red, green, and now brown, and I've been holding on to the minimal blue skies and sun as everything has turned mostly gray. (Do I need to actually buy a light therapy lamp this year? Let me know.) And honestly, it's been a creatively fulfilling time for me, among a whole lot of sadness - a time to be like the leaves and move through change. No more holding on anymore - I'm going to let it all slip through my fingers and welcome this new season.

The truth is, I've been busy working on an album, and a lot of my focus has gone into vocal melodies, a Soviet piano, scratch tracks, and figuring out harmonies. Between that and honestly painful moments, I've been pouring into my music. As a melodic writer, I take the melodies I've created and words either start flowing or I begin to play around with snippets I'd backlogged. Vowels influence rhyme, influencing words and cadence. For the longest time, I felt like I did best in a collaborative songwriting space, but over the last few months, I've been following my muse so closely, writing alone, sharing these songs bit by bit - really trusting my creative voice. With so much pain in the world right now, it feels like my voice and music are two of the truest ways to personally act as a balm, whether sharing rituals online or writing music to express my own confusion into clarity.

Here's an example of how my life has been flowing:

When I decided to start this recording process, I looked into condenser mics online, as one shop came highly recommended. After The Scientist and I scoured different websites, features, and prices, I put my phone down as if to say, "well, done with that for the day!"

He looked at me and said, "hey, why don't you reach out to some of our musician friends to see if they have a condenser mic we can borrow?" Dang, I hadn't even considered that. Why hadn't I considered that!? This is why he's a genius scientist, y'all.

So, realizing it was a great idea, I reached out to some specific friends and they did indeed have home recording equipment - but they were leaving for tour that night and only in their recording studio for the next two hours.

When I tell y'all I jumped up off my chair and scrambled toward the door, adrenaline pumping, I felt like the protagonist in a romantic comedy running off to profess my love to my Beloved - who is, if it weren't obvious, the Muse that channels through me.

It sounds romantic, but it's true. I'm not so sure I write these songs alone - and moments like this remind me I'm partnering with something bigger.

I raced over to the studio, feeling completely in alignment with my purpose. And I'm so grateful to my friends for letting me borrow this equipment, because in a time of so much worldwide sadness (honestly, I can't even go into it because it still upsets me too much), this has been my number one priority - bringing these songs out into the world.

I'm certain I could do it without The Scientist, but his Ableton help has been so invaluable that I want to give him a very public shout-out here. He's the best. :)

So, that's where my head has been recently - trying to pace myself and remember I have time, but not too much time to get nonchalant. I understand this is important work, so if I'm quieter on here these days, that's why!

By the way, remember in early October when I tried to visit Tallinn for a concert that eventually got canceled - and the blog post that followed? Well, I'm finally taking that postponed trip this weekend, so I'm excited to share my thoughts on Estonia's capital soon enough. Feel free to share your favorite things about Tallinn or this season in the comments.

And as per usual, feel free to subscribe at the bottom of this page to receive a bi-weekly email from me on whatever's on my heart that day! And as always, I'll see you next time here at Into the Forests I Go - iki pasimatymo - see you soon!