On May 13 I launched my new record, The Nature Of Light, as part of the 2017 Stonnington Jazz Festival. It was a great privilege to be able to share the album as part of the festival. The performance was the first music concert in Chapel Off Chapel’s newly renovated mezzanine, normally designated as a visual art exhibition space. At the encouragement of the festival’s artistic director, Chelsea Wilson, I planned to prepare a number of visual artworks that spoke of the inspiration behind the album.
The Nature Of Light is an album inspired by my emotional connection to colour. It was the perfect opportunity to represent each song through the medium of visual art. More excitingly, the artworks were prepared by myself and my wife. It was a great treat to be able to share part of my creative work with Samantha – usually my work is done in isolation. Neither Sami nor myself are visual artists. With that disclaimer in mind, I was really proud of some of our achievements. I still enjoy some of the pieces that we created. Here they are:
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First Day
Hundreds And Thousands
Juniper
Midnight Suite:
pt i. Transit
pt ii. Rialto
pt iii. Flinders Street
Playtime
The Audacity Of Tropes (Redwash)
Regardless of their ‘artistic merit’, the artworks taught me valuable skills, which translate beyond the canvas, to the piano. Perhaps the most important: patience. Maybe it’s because I’m a novice visual artist, or maybe it’s inherently part of that discipline’s process… visual art takes a LOOOONG time. I really enjoyed the almost-meditative quality of preparing some of the pieces. It made me realise that my music and my writing should be approached in the same way.
Often I’m quick to frustration when my composition process doesn’t go as smoothly or as quickly as I intend. Sometimes I can justify it as an “it’s just not happening today” day. And of course, great artwork needs that spark. But it also needs a disciplined, patient and explorative mindset.
That is what I hope to take away from the experience of this album launch.
The album is something that I’m immensely proud of. The album was PBS Feature Record in May, which was super exciting! You can read a review of the album here. Should you wish to, you can purchase it via bandcamp. Your support really means a lot and goes a long way to helping me continue to create new music.
Thanks so much for reading this. If you’d like to be part of what I’m doing, please join my mailing list.
