Let Go Harder
New Jersey, USA
Check Out the Album
Original Concept:
In the past two years of JoCoAlbMo, i've done both a highly structured album with a strong personal theme and a ridiculously experimental algorithm piece that should probably not be taken seriously. This year, i'd like to aim for the middle of the road: an honestly musical endeavor with an eye toward accessibility and quality but built on a foundation of improvisation and a core concept of the importance of letting go.
Artist Post-Game:
2018's JoCoAlbMo challenge was a nice breakthrough for me. As i originally hoped, i successfully composed an album of songs that were fairly well-written and generally accessible, despite the usual limitations of performance and production that come along with the 31-day timeline (and my usual heavy non-musical commitments). In addition, i got an album of somewhat diverse material, which is something i often look for in a record.
What surprised me was how my concept shifted almost immediately. I had originally hoped that "Let Go Harder" would embody the idea implied by its title, and be a largely "off-the-cuff" work (per original concept). However, as i started working on the material, a more concrete conceptual sequence started to emerge: the message of the importance of "letting go" in art, the despair with which we struggle when looking at the world, and the idea that "letting go" in that larger context can help one view the world as art (and therein find hope). This set of ideas ran away with the album, and is represented in the flow of songs on the record. While this shift forced me to push harder to get the record done (and therefore make more production sacrifices than i'd hoped), i consider it a net win, as the final product embodies a great message that i feel the original concept would not have. Much like "An Ocean" (my first JoCoAlbMo record, 2016), i feel like this record is a great "final draft" for what could be a really great album were it remade with professional production (and, in contrast to "An Ocean", it would be both an easier and far more accessible upgrade).
As usual, i tried hard to meet all the challenge Rules. The album came in just over 50 minutes (Rule of 40), including a 4.5-minute cover (Rule of 10). Only the bassline of "Monkeys!" was pre-recorded (Rule of 20) -- a sample taken from last year's 4EARMe record. Aside from the cover and that bassline, only the lyrics and melody for the choruses of "Indigo" had been written in advance (Rule of 30). I did, however, make use of the shift to Daylight Savings Time to buy myself an extra hour, and needed to invoke the Rule of 0 to cover a little extra time, as the album's final mix went to disk at ~0113 DST on 01 April. I'm calling that close enough.