Creation Myths
Every religion has a creation myth. Narrative is part of the human communication starter pack; it’s as essential to how we understand each other and the world as language and as universal as music and art. Our personal histories are a series of stories that fade in a gradient from fact to fantasy as they stretch farther behind us, from our most recent exhale to our oldest ancestor’s first breath.
Why am I waxing poetic about story? Because I’m trying to write one that bridges the gap between different kind of media, platforms, and people.
An album release is nothing if not a creation myth. Here I am, in the thick of it. I can see the sweat and toil and mess. I have three separate checklists, an image board, sketches, multiple remixes and masters, lists of people to call and email. It is chaos. It will be pretty chaotic through the release. I have six videos I want to film, seven art pieces to create, and a whole heap of stuff to accompany all of those. And I need to book a tour or two [yikes].
But when the release goes live to the public, they will (hopefully) see a very neat narrative. The art for each song will link together into a cohesive story of personal growth and support the lyric. The videos will reflect this same journey and tie in with the colors and symbolic themes of both the music and art. Hopefully each element will be executed well enough that, whether you’re in it for the art or the music or because you like witchy stuff, there will be something for you to connect with.
And, of course, it will be color coordinated.
The album release is one of those “God created the world in seven days” creation myths. Outside-looking-in, I will have effortlessly commanded light into existence. The reality is more like I built a fire, realized I’d chopped down the wrong kind of tree, drove to a store two towns over, rebuilt the fire, and lit it in a fit of rage because it all took three days longer than it was supposed to.
As pumped as I am to present this big, high-concept thing I’m making to the world as a beautifully self-contained artistic experience, I’m equally excited about the messy parts of creation that never make it into the stories. The “making of” features on DVDs always appealed to me more than the movies themselves. I love being covered in paint more than I love the paintings I make. Frankly, I think I would have connected more with the Genesis story if God had used a shovel.
If you too are the kind of person that likes seeing how the sausage gets made, stop by my Patreon. I’m going to be sharing my planning there, posting about the process, and giving Patrons early access to the entire project. My vision board and a screenshot of one of my early checklists is up there right now.
Peace, love, and paint-stained blessings.