Nu Ingenue

deep sorrow

but not really.

More like…frustration. And disappointment. “the lady in the spell shop” is still in need of vocals. Yes, this project that was only supposed to take a week per song has taken more than a month and we still have yet to produce one track.

 And the masses are protesting.

 Well, not really but they would if they knew what they were missing.

 I don’t even know what I’m missing. Maybe I’m just impatient. And I have a pimple. The tiny curse that has the power to ruin an entire fortunate day. And to be honest, the day has been fortunate enough. I mean…I made music all day. It wasn’t MY music, but it was music. Music for little ads. Music that cannot go on a resume because it’s technically just musak.

Oh well…all in good time. 

There's someone in my life who...

What if I had a series of blogs that all began with that? For example:

There’s someone in my life who has a boyfriend who doesn’t deserve her, but she thinks he does, but I think she’s wrong.

Would that be creepy? Would it be insulting? Or presumptuous? Because I don’t want to hurt feelings…but then again, if I’m not revealing any names, no one will know. Except for the people who think it’s them. And let’s be honest…just about any girl could read that statement and think, “Is she writing about me?” And the worst part is, if you think think that thought then it probably does apply to you whether I know you or not, which means that you should dump him or at least reevaluate your commitment level.

On that note, I dreamt of an ex last night. Not in a sexual way or anything. Well…I mean…he wanted to hook up with me. But I declined. As it turned out he was completely high and drunk off his ass, which wasn’t helping his dream-image. He asked me why not and I thought for a minute. Then I told him, “because I don’t want that to be the sum of my worth.” And he looked back at me earnestly and said, “I like that.”

I can see how that would be a really profound line for someone high in a dream, but looking back on it, it didn’t even really make sense. what the bejeesers is the sum of someone’s worth anyway? That’s just silly. But apparently, he liked it.

Good News...

…and I don’t mean the Bible…although in comparison this isn’t all that important.

But still. This is kind of important. Not in the scope of eternity. We haven’t saved any lives or cured any diseases. Yet. But we’re recording. Yep. It’s pretty insanely cool. We started out with drums and then did bass and then keyboard and then vocals and then more vocals. Well, actually that’s just wishful thinking. TOMORROW we’ll be recording more vocals.

 And the day after that, if inspiration dawns on us, we shall write more beauteous songs.

 Like I said, it’s no Genesis…but it feels pretty damn close.

Haze

Last night, something changed. I can’t tell you what, but I feel that it is extremely important. I’ve gone about my morning in a total haze. My alarm didn’t go off, so I slept extremely well till I flew out of my bed around 8:00. And I don’t mean like birds fly, I mean like projectiles fly off of an exploding car in one of those high speed movies.

…Long analogy. No wait, comparison. Gosh, I took English. I should know this.

Anyhow, back to the haze. I walk about in a complete haze. I suddenly look down at the table and realize that milk has been poured onto my frosted mini-wheats, and that there is a small glass of orange juice next to the bowl. Who did it? Probably me, seeing as I’m inquisitively staring at the carton of milk in my hand wondering just that. But I have no recollection of the events.

Kind of like everything that happened before my 10th birthday. It didn’t happen. But that’s another story.

Not Worrying

Functioning showers are a blessing—one that far too many people take overlook. Today, like yesterday, began with a bird bath: me frantically scooping water that was dripping from the faucet. I don’t know whether it’s water pressure or something in the pipes, or an underground plot contrived by genetically modified rats planning to take over the world, but one thing’s for sure: it’s a real bummer. And when I say “bummer” what I really mean is “fucking mess that inspires angry and irrational feelings.”

Whoo. Glad I got that out.

There’s not much in life that’s as irritating as a dripping faucet or an overdraft fee, and I got both today. These combined with my stagnant music career and lack of 4-year success plan naturally caused me to question my entire existence and purpose in this crazy world.

A friend of mine reminded me that I shouldn’t quit: not because if I persisted people would care, but rather because if I didn’t persist, no one would care. It was more encouraging than I make it sound. It’s pretty true. No one gives a damn if you quit.

So, here are the facts: I’m an art major, mastering in French Literature and my true passion is music. I’m eventually going to have a real job, because I’m not very lucky, and the chances of me winning the lottery or discovering a rich dead relative are slim to none. If that did happen, or better yet—if I actually became successful at something—I would buy a vineyard, read and make music.

If anyone steals my ingenious idea, I will hunt them down and steal their books and burn their grapes.

    So, I was thinking, either I take control of my life and believe that I’m in control (which is a pretty but deceptive idea) or I let go. Either I become a business major and drop the whole artistic thing, or I let go, have fun and let life lead me where it will.

    Ok, so it’s lame and hardly philosophical, but it essentially comes down to just that. And since worrying gets you absolutely nowhere, I don’t see why I should start now. It’s hard enough to get anywhere when you’re NOT worrying. But still, even if I decide not to worry…how does that affect my life practically speaking? Do I still major in art? Does it matter? Does anyone out there have the answers???

Grargrahagr…

Not. Worrying.

Little Birdies

Blog by Nu Ingenue (musician/vocalist/songwriter)
Commentary by Colin Wright (designer)

So I’m really bad at all of this blogging stuff. It’s not that I don’t WANT to keep people updated on my thrilling life. It’s just that…well there’s nothing really thrilling about it for the moment.

I think you might be surprised what people find interesting about other people’s every day lives. What is mundane for you might be wildly interesting for someone else.

This means that I will have to entertain everyone (and by everyone I mean my currently nonexistent public) with my wit and general knowledge.

Well damn, I guess we’re done for, then. It was a nice try.

Or I could just tell you about what happened last night. (Don’t get excited, I’m not going to tell you THAT much.) A lot of stuff came up at our first practice. Basically, Nick/Vincent (I never know whether to call him by his producer name, Nick or his stage name, Vincent…how complicated the art world is…) told me that I needed to set down my bass for a while.

It was actually a lot more roundabout than this, but that was the long and short of it, I suppose. He seemed very hesitant to bring it up, and you were actually a lot more accepting of it than I thought you would be when I heard it.

This, as you can imagine—or perhaps cannot—came as a huge blow to me: for as long as I can remember I’ve been writing songs with the bass. Stripping the instrument from the songs therefore felt very unnatural and slightly insulting. After all, what do the songs have apart from vocals and a bass line?

Your music does, in it’s natural state (at this point), have a very coffeehouse feel to it…just a bass and beautiful vocals. It does make sense what he says, though, that once you are forced to change it up a bit, there will then be room for other sounds to enter the mix, hopefully ending up with a more mature and full sound.

Then he explained, and little birdies peeled open my overcast mind to reveal sunshine and happy thoughts. It wasn’t that he didn’t WANT the bass: it was just that he wanted to leave room for other instruments first and then work the bass back in.

I like the little birdy visual. Very creative.

Phew.

So now my question is: how does that work “practically”? How do I teach anyone the songs without the bass???

My question is: how did you intend to do so WITH it? You always say that you aren’t as up on the theory as just writing by sound and intuition…how do you teach someone else that?

I guess time will tell…