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2020

by Jenn Kirby

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Perchance Music & Digital Media (SM)
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Perchance Music & Digital Media (SM) I love this approach and the results speak for themselves...fresh, spontaneous. Thank you also for the insights into your process. Music binds emotion better than almost any medium. Favorite track: Weird Moments (Jul).
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No Ya (Jan) 05:25
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Human (Mar) 08:23
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Foamy (May) 03:52
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about

A track a month for 2020

I think it might be interesting to write and release a track a month without consideration for how they relate to one another and without time to consider how successful the music is.
In some way this feels liberating. In some ways it is a useful procrastination tool. I can do this when I should be doing other projects and still feel productive.

Both Jan and Feb tracks so far have been done in two sessions each. The first session to sketch out the full piece. The second session to fix, improve and bounce down.

Mar and Apr tracks were done in one session each.
Apr - These Days, is a free-singing improv. No lyrics, melody or phrasing is pre-written. I press record and see what comes out. This is a really exciting way of working.

May - Foamy
This was done in 2 sessions again. Similar improv songwriting approach. I wanted to have a different form in this and build some momentum. Tried out a couple new techniques too. A more spacious sound world in this one, some opening up and closing.

June - Sa Bhaile (At Home)
Back to being a litlte more experimental with this one. Started with recording a bodhrán. The track focuses on the artifacts produced from the bodhrán and the voice. I did this in two sessions, but took a few days break in between them to listen to the draft. I'm not sure how well this works. I thought this uncertainly was a good thing, because then it must be a little experimental. I feel like I'm exploring this from different angles.

July - Weird Moments
This is the first time I found writing and releasing the track difficult. I wrote a good few tracks this month, but didn't like very many of them. I thought I'd try a different approach. I rarely record the guitar, so I thought I'd start with that. I wrote down a few words as prompts. Press record and do the vocal line. Then I spend more time on sound design and production. I feel unsure about this track and reluctant to release it.

August - Where Do We Go?
Ambient pop, utilising field recordings. An ever-present looping soundscape.

Sept - I Leave You Here
Improvised songwriting.
Had this idea while working on another piece. So, I recorded it on one session. You can hear the clicking of the keys come through the vocal mic. I could have re-done the vocals, but I like the spontaneity of it. I did some small editing afterwards, but resisted the temptation to put it into a more formal structure.

Oct - Be Loud
Slightly different format. I had some scribbed down phrases to improvise from. A loudly quiet folk song.
This month's track includes a music video, made by Daryl Feehely, search it on youtube

Nov - All My Friends
Written after spending a lot of time on video calls.
Digitised human.

Dec - Charade
Improvised, but I spent a good bit of time tidying it up afterwards. I was reluctant to do this track, just because I knew it was the last one. I thought it had to be something special, then I remembered that was not the point of this project. The point was to do and not think all that much, to have fun and not to worry.

It is perhaps too early to fully reflect, but I do have some observations. I thought of doing this before I knew how different 2020 was going to be and how different this project was as a result. One thing I worried about was that if I was doing this every month, would this prevent me from working on bigger projects, would I waste creative energy on this? What I learnt was that doing creative work, just makes you more creative - like fitness perhaps - you get more creative energy. I also realised that working on many things at once is a helpful way to avoid any blocks. Having a project that really has no rules, is great alongside a project with lots of rules (and pressure).

In a way this is a little music diary for me. I remember how I felt making all of these. The feeling of the song does not always represent how I was feeling at the time. Thinking about the different tracks, I remember what I was thinking while recording. The fun thing about improvising these is that meaning starts to form as I am singing, something comes up that is sometimes uncomfortable and I must decide in real-time if I lean into that or if I change direction. The songs often mean many things at once, like different thoughts coming to my head. It has been quite therapeutic. I feel a little sad now that this is finished.

Thank you Daryl for the artwork, for listening and for being so supportive. Thank you to those you listened, given feedback and supported this project.

credits

released December 21, 2020

All music written and produced by Jenn Kirby
Artwork by Daryl Feehely

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Jenn Kirby London, UK

composer & performer releasing under Jenn Kirby, Gliché and Cyted

Experimental Electronic /
Avant-pop / Electroacoustic /

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