nothing to say

In my last post I talked about how I feel I'm moving towards 'the future, the next idea, an expansion of my practice' as opposed to moving away from text.

Here I want to talk about why I might be moving away from text.

I recently recorded and posted a couple of sound experiments, one colliding the Christian song The Good Old Way with loops and found sound here, another which I'm still really happy with doing the same for The North Country Maid here.

Another recording which I didn't post looped me singing the chorus from Bob Dylan's Lay Down Your Weary Tune under my version of his Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands. It worked well, but copyright issues aside the volume of the loop was too high in comparison to the vocal so I didn't post it.

I've mentioned a few times I've spent the last few months singing and learning songs. I've been happy just doing that and now beginning to incorporate them into soundworks.

From time to time I've thought it might be interesting to try and put my own words to tunes, to borrow a technique famously used by Dylan. But it's only ever been a fleeting thought.

Then this week I was reminded of Skip James' recording of Be Ready When He Comes. Give it a listen before you read any further.

It's a fantastic song and a great performance but starting to sing it myself I felt kind of uncomfortable. An awful lot of the songs I've been learning and messing with are Christian tunes. As an atheist you can only ignore the content so long. I don't want to evangelise for something I don't believe and I don't want to be mistaken for something I'm not.

So I thought again about setting my own words to the tune. So far I haven't managed to come up with anything. Or rather I've come up with a lot of cliched, inane, or flat out stupid words but nothing I'd actually want to sing.

Eventually I gave up the attempt. But it didn't stop me wondering why I couldn't come up with anything.

The idea that makes most sense is just this, I have nothing to say.

Sure I'm making a lot of objects and sounds as well as creating ) TH GOOD /OLD W~AY but these aren't really saying anything. They're more investigations, workings-out of niggling memories, fears and fascinations.

It's liberating having nothing to say. I don't have to worry about my work being misunderstood.

In which spirit here's a visual sonnet.

boustrophedon sonnet