Rain pelts us like warm bullets as we soar down the coast. I’m smiling on the back of a rented scooter. Long freediving fins stick out of the dry bag strapped to my back. The little orange Bose speaker I carry with me everywhere I blasting the songs I’ve just discovered that light me up with wonder. Collecting songs like seashells, carrying them around until I’m ready to drop them and pick up a new one. We’re drenched by the time we wade into the ocean. I’m floating on the surface, breathing through a snorkel, resisting the urge to dive under the surface, protecting my ears that need recovery time after freediving training. I watch Captain Bubbles disappear into the deep blue. I can’t see him. I’m counting time, wondering, hoping his figure will reemerge from the invisible bottom. His smile is enormous as he rises to the air and hands me a giant Cowrie shell, still alive. Smoother than glass, fingers slide across the brown spots and something wiggles inside it. I hand it back to the Captain, his feet kick skyward, he sinks with the shell back to the ocean floor. I’m filming him from above, catching his bubbles as they rise to meet me.
Captain Bubbles tells me stories of what life is like 80m below the surface of the water. His body has felt the silent pull into the deep ocean. Holding his breath he has kick down so far below the water that the pressure has pulled him down into a free fall glide towards dark blue. The deepest release and meditation is nothing but fearless beauty in his words. I almost cry as I listen to him. He opens Spotify and plays “Wanderlust” by AK. This song puts him in a trance before he deep dives. It opens his spirit to the beyond and prepares his mind to obey his intention of exploring his limits.
He grabbed his diving mask and waved goodbye, setting off to the sea for a day of diving at the shipwreck. I opened my laptop, launched Ableton Live 11, imported an .mp3 of the “Wanderlust” song and began deconstructing the sounds. The first four bars is just piano. Then the first set of strings enters. Four bars later, the second set of strings enters. In the four segment of the song’s long intro we start to hear a pulsing riser. Anticipation is building for a drop. I sketch out the structure of the song and begin adding in my own instruments.
Listening to “Wanderlust” on repeat all morning has me in a trance now as well. It was playing in my headphones as I journaled. It’s deep in my body, in my subconscious as I sit in front of the Aston Sprit microphone. The tile floor of this bedroom I’m renting is uncomfortable even with pillows tucked under my legs. Whatever. Eyes closed, I start diving into my body, feeling for feelings, listening for lyrics to float up from within me. How do I describe in words the feeling I felt when Captain Bubbles recounted his freediving experience?
His body feels pulled down, free falling, releasing, letting go, at peace in the silence, he pauses at the bottom of his rope to prayer in gratitude for the truth the ocean has given him. Kick back to the surface he looks up at 30m and sees the light sparkling and legs dangling above. He’s returning to the ‘land of the living’, having ventured to a place where humans don’t go or don’t go for long. He is alive, looking to the horizon in the energy of ‘no limits’.
I record dozens of vocal takes, tracks stacking up on top of each other, my voice exploring this deep expansive feeling. My intention is to sing a song that would call and guide a human spirit to the very edge of wonder, to peer down into, out at, the unknown with gentle open enthusiastic curiosity. I create a remix of “Wanderlust” and named it “Deeper”.
The following day, Captain Bubbles picks me up and we drive through the rain to the Liberty Shipwreck on the east coast of Bali. On the surface the world is wet and grey. Our clothes are drenched. I’ve got a huge smile on my face because I love the warm air on my skin, swerving corner of the jungle, raindrops prickling my face. I don’t think Captain Bubbles realizes how much I love this. He seemed a little concerned about my comfort. I was in heaven. Adventures in the rainstorms! On my back is a wetbag full of wetsuits, masks, snorkels, a speaker and a GoPro.
We down a couple glasses of hot tea, and jump in the ocean with the GoPro. He takes his one big breath and swims down. I snorkel on the surface, resting my aching freediving ears, and play with the bubbles rising up from the scuba divers below. Captain Bubbles lives up to his name and starts blowing bubbles up to meet me at the surface. I’m playing with the camera the entire time. The light, the water, the sparkles, the bubbles, the cool sensations rippling around my skin, the taste of air after a long breath hold, the smiles on our faces. We drive home in our wetsuits, freediving fins sticking out of the bag on my back, tunes blasting on the speaker as we retrace our tire-tracks through the coastal jungle. Life is so much better now; we’ve been in the sea. We’ve disappeared into the blue heaven for a moment and popped back up to the surface, reluctant to leave, rampaging with hunger for Nasi Goreng and curious what the video footage will look like. Captain Bubbles is like a little boy underwater, chatting with fish, waving hello to colorful creatures, upturning rocks, and blowing bubbles as moving artwork. It’s beautiful watching another human so alive in their passion, expertise, happy place. My passion comes alive when I’m beside someone else living in their passion. Watching him play in the water only heightens the desire in me to compose music, write stories and create videos.
The day after that, I open the laptop, launch Premier Pro, import the .wav file of “Deeper” and the GoPro .mp4 files. I create a music video, combining the song I wrote and the video footage I recorded. The entire day passes, I’ve swallowed two cups of coffee and a banana smoothie. Time was forgotten and twelve hours later I put the laptop on Captain Bubbles’ lap and click play. He calls me a genius, a very talented woman, and we nerd out about freediving. It surprised him I can create a song in a day and a music video in another day. Creating entire projects in one day is a sweet spot for me. I love to wake up with enthusiasm and curiosity, wondering what I’ll create by the time I go to sleep. I love laying my head on the pillow, smiling because something new exists in the world today, something new that didn’t exist when I woke up. So much can be done in a day.
Love & Rainbows,
Cha Wilde
