best of the best
my favourite posts this year
Merry Christmas, friends!
I want to say thanks for subscribing to this newsletter, and share some of my favourite posts from this year:
The Job Of An Artist Is To Be An Artist
I wrote on being an artist and using songs to bring not just GEOLOGICAL FACTS to people, as well as PERSONAL FEELINGS:
instead of writing songs with just facts, i can and should be writing songs with facts and feelings. we all know about volcanoes, but what about thinking about volcanoes in a way which makes us feel something? how can rivers remind us of someone we love? how can i turn metamorphic rocks into metaphors for personal growth?
basically, as an artist, i can use geology and music to inspire people to reflect about both our planet and our personal lives. it’s about knowing as much as i know, always learning more, but always finding a personal/magical side to each story. it’s okay if i still don’t know what conglomerate means yet (i will google this today).
The Coulee City Rodeo Queen
I wrote a song about the Missoula Floods and what it would be like to be a cowgirl trying to tame an ice age flood:
she runs up the mountainside so that she’s at a higher elevation, then jumps down as the water booms. she sits on top of the wave, kicking her spurs into foam and tightening her reins round the ripples. the sun passes overhead and she settles in to the jolt of a ride, rolling over plains and carving plungepools into the ground. she rides until the sky goes dark and the inky blue of the pacific meets them.
Keep Your Eyes On Your Beautiful Dream
I shared my inspiration behind my music video, Grace, and how it all started with an anthology of Japanese poetry…
from that point on, the seashell became my sort-of personal hero, a real paragon of ‘unconcern’ and surety. i had an ep to record — keep your eyes on your beautiful dream.
i wanted to be a seashell.
Isle of Demons
I had a lot of fun writing this one. Three imaginary islands with three small poems. What did the fabled Isle of Demons look like? And where is Ultima Thule?
Thule
let me take you to
the thunderclouded grass
where the air arches
and touches the edge of colour
little ultima
i gave its name to comets
like light dying out at the end of the bend
iridescence plunged into the ocean
A Notebook Is A Place
Cartoonist Lynda Barry got me using my notebooks differently in 2022. In this post I break down how I’ve been using my trusty paper friend. (I couldn’t think of a synonym for notebook, ‘paper friend’ is bad but hey, we move)
I think keeping a diary to help me write songs is good, but often I don’t need to access the emotional content of my life gone by for creative purposes. I’m not gonna open a notebook and read “I didn’t sleep very well last night and I’m not sure what I’m gonna do today” and think WOW THE MUSE HAS STRUCK. This is what’s good about this daily diary of observations — it’s more about the strange or beautiful moments in ordinary life which come and go, and then when we take that scene or moment, when we write about it, we then infuse it with emotion.
Building A World
One of my favourite posts from this year, detailing how I go about building my creative direction for my music.
One of the most important things is what I’ve been naturally drawn to in the past few months:
the scattered glyphs and colours of 16th - 18th century needlework samplers
collages
colourful silly drawings with little characters
hand-drawn maps of imaginary places
fantasy landscapes which have a childlike or simple feel to them
Alpine mountains in the spring/summer
I’ll be back before the New Year with one more dispatch from 2022. But until then, have a delightful holiday, stay warm, and be good.
Olivia 🌈