Jonathan

This is “Jonathan”. You can stream it anywhere you listen to music from the link in my bio.

As I write this post, of all the words that come to my mind, it’s our boy Drizzy Drake that sticks out with

My uncle used to have all these things on his bucket list / now he’s acting like ‘oh well, this is life I guess’ / nah f*** that sh*t / you can still do what you want to do / you gotta trust that sh*t.”

Disappointment is known to us all. To fail can be an experience so painful that we stop wanting altogether. The line between acceptance and defeat, between persistence and masochism, is difficult to navigate.

This is a character song. Still, like the speaker in “Jonathan”, I wish to find the courage to want again too, to cultivate desires that are worth enduring for, that venture beyond scratching the itch of a need.

Musically, the piano arrangement pulls from my love of the album Nina Simone and Piano! and vocally from ANOHNI’s speed-shifting vibrato. 

In the mix, subtle sonic choices, such as roughing up the reverbs by sending them through old radio speakers and heavily saturating the piano room microphones through classic tube preamps, combine with modern vocal processing to deepen the intersection between the wearing of age and the excitement for being alive now. 

I hope you are finding moments of joy and peace this summer, and are proud of yourself for moving in small ways towards a future you want to be here for. 

Thank you for reading & listening.