Not long after Thanksgiving, our dog Walter got sick. We found ourselves taking many trips to the vet, talking to doctors, and spending a lot of time waiting for test results, worrying about our best friend. Around the same time, Claire encouraged me to make the music that I want to make, not concerning myself copping specific styles or wondering what others might think: Just making music. During the month of December music just poured out of me: Melodies, harmonies, basslines, hooks, and interludes came out and went right into the computer. For the first time in quite a while I found myself writing complete melodies and compositions with many different sections. After assembling these tracks I realize they arent simply tracks but an aural journal, a way to deal with the mix of emotions I encountered in December. More than any other music Ive created, these songs are part of a whole; They were created in a very short timespan and reflect a very particular period of my life. I usually shy away from being too artsy and trying to express emotion with music, but I cant deny that is what this is. It just happened, and now I realize that creating this music helped me during this difficult time. Walter is better now– the doctors think he had a mild case of auto-immune meningitis. Although we still give him medication daily, the prognosis is good. I wish we wouldnt have gone through that ordeal, but without it I would not have been so inspired to express myself through music. I am fiercely proud of this music. I feel it is very true to me as a musician; This music is a distillation of my favorite artists, my ideas about music, and it came out sounding very true to who I am and the sort of music I enjoy. It is, I believe, 100% Chris Beckstrom.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 21:06:10 +0000