There is something transformative about music. It can take you from A to B from B to C to Z and back to A. One note, one lyric, one simple melody has all the power within it to change your entire vibration.
I love how music can seal a fleeting moment with an invisible blessing. The blessing of time travel. Sometimes the travelling is a transportation to a younger, more innocent you. A you in a moment that was later registered as significant.
Sometimes a song takes me back to a memory of strolling home after work on a sunny day. Or sitting on the bus watching the night scenes of London whirl by on a rainy night. Or discussing the brilliance of a newly discovered track with one of my best friends. Never quite realising just how much it would be played in the coming weeks, in the coming years. How these songs will become important additions in the soundtrack of my life.
Songs can mark the years better than pictures can. Songs can evoke sensations that imagery simply can’t.
And yet, with all the power music has to take us back, I find the biggest gift is its ability to take us into the present.
I find myself writing this blog post in a full on flow, listening to tunes and enjoying articulating the topic of my love affair with music. About an hour earlier I had accidentally fallen asleep on my bed feeling completely tired. All it took was putting on my tunes to wake me right up. The state altered instantaneously. It’s the most accessible magic.
I associate music to meditation. Particularly electronic music with little to no vocal. The non-stop mental dialogue subsides and the mind finds space. New ideas can form now. The beat provides a regularity, a constant, but all the ebbs and flows and twists and turns layered over take you on the most beautiful journey every time.
My favourite moments when working on my art are no doubt the ones where my focus was in complete equilibrium between painting and listening. My relationship with music is tantamount to my relationship with art. In fact my relationship with art is facilitated by my relationship to music.
With dance music you get the added bonus of an energy boost. An energetic meditation. Combining this with painting creates such positive synergy in my being that it has allowed me to shift out of low moods and energy levels time and time and time again. And take a good mood to an even better one time and time and time again. It’s a feeling that is addictive and productive and joyful.
***
I dedicate this blog post to one of my best friends Linda, my musical soulmate, who I share countless songs with and who I discover countless songs from.