There's certainly a weird twilight zone feeling during the week post Christmas to New Year's, but then there's the week AFTER New Year's that just feels like a strange vacuum of sorts.
People are sorting out their plans for the new year, but there's certainly a kind of melancholy that can set in (personally speaking), so I had to call on the “Janu-faeries” for help. Growing up in Australia it was OK since it was still summer and one could go the beach or jump in the pool, in Japan it's cold and somewhat isolated. Gotta keep the blues at bay, so I'm practicing the Scandinavian art of “Hygge” as much as possible - candles, fairy lights, cups of tea, comfy sweaters, slippers and socks, reading books and cultivating coziness.
This coming Saturday night I'm hosting a listening party over on BandCamp for the new record “Silver Lining”, It's the first time to be doing this, and I'm starting to get excited for it! The album has been well received so far, and I'm super appreciative of all the direct purchases made thus far. It really does make a difference when you know people are invested.
I'm no longer on Spotify, and by the sound of it, I'm not missing much. Artistic integrity is everything. I was talking with my fellow middle aged friend the other day about how our generation have really done it all, music consumption-wise. We've listened on vinyl, cassette, CD, mini-disk, mp3s, Napster, Limewire and streaming. The biggest shift is how we once went from listening to an entire album, reading the lyrics and liner notes, to now making playlists and listening piecemeal to a track. Our attention spans have been eroded, and I don't think that's an accident. In fact, would put money on the correlation between depression and the inability to concentrate for long periods of time.
if you've read this far, congratulations! Your attention span is still robust. I hope you'll join us for the 30 minute listening party on Saturday. I'll be planning more live shows in the near too.