Selves~ Preservation

2021-01-31

Today while washing the dishes It occurred to me I need to take steps to become more coherent to myself, and to the lovely people who take the time to listen to my music.

I have three solo projects, all three completely different from each-other. I have three records up and coming, some of which I have been working on for actual years…

I’ve always struggled to use words. At school I missed basically all history classes in year 8 and 9, as I was forced to take special classes to improve my spelling. Years of feeling stupid and intrinsically incapable of improving was due to many factors, having an ADHD brain being one of them. I never sat still in school I never stopped talking to people. Getting me to sit down and write sums or do any form of learning what-so-ever, with infinite opportunities to be distracted in the classroom, was basically impossible, in all honesty practically painful for me. It still is, though I have various techniques for helping this now. Ambient music, noise blocking headphones, generally not being a teenage mess, you know.

Fast forward 20 years, I’m working full time as a graphic designer and have been making music for around 10 years. In typical ADHD fashion I have jumped from name to name, idea to idea, never settling into a routine always feeling like I’m being denied the possibility of change and fighting that tooth and nail. This is EXHAUSTING and has made it extremely difficult for me to make any progress with my projects, always starting from square one. It goes against the very core principal of “this band is good I want to check out all their stuff”. It fragments any sense of community I might have had with older projects of mine, such as Aches and Foundling (big high five to you if you’ve stuck with me since then).

But today while doing the washing up, having read some really positive end of 2020 posts from friends, I had a burst of energy and wrote a list, locking into some serious hyper focus to make this. I have been thinking a long time how to give myself permission to share and how to unite my projects but also define them, whilst giving me room to be flexible and do my weird thing. So I hereby present you with three logos and three definitions of what these solo projects mean to me. Im going to try like hell not to edit this after I post it…but can’t promise anything.. 😀

Sentry – I think of this as, I’m happy today and I’m messing around with drum machines and synths, channeling stoned, far too energetic 18 year old me, listening to Braindance and jamming out with the filter frequency and release knobs. (forthcoming this year on Jollies)

Flight Coda – The mother of my beloved deceased ambient project Foundling, the place for my ambient/drone/noise work. Soft noise and gentle movements a unifying presence. An important and functional transitionary moment giver.

Power Therapy – Originally a melding of brutal and beautiful, but now following its first emergence this project has grown into something much more coherent and brutal. Sludgy, heavy guitars, up front and almost song like structures. It’s becoming what I always dreamed my first big project Aches would be, but heavier.

I hope it stays that way for a good long while. Thank you for absorbing this and for sticking with me. X

Posted on Instagram 11th of January 2021. @flight_coda