Will this album ever end? I'm lying in my guestbed room, earphones blasting the ENTIRE Oh Wonder Album - beginning to end, every song, in order. My eyes are closed and I'm having a good time but then, BOOM - we just hit the middle of the album. Everything is starting to sound the same. I'm getting bored. I don't like this song and I don't want to listen anymore. This is becoming annoying. Maybe I'll go clean the fridge....No! Stay and listen! Follow through with your goal...Ugh....
To survive, I switched my mindset..."Listen closely to the songs you don't like, I told myself, I learn WHY you don't like them. Study the sounds you're hearing. Right now it's now about enjoying, it's about diving deeper to understand the enjoyment."
As soon as I started analyzing the songs, noticing the patterns of instrument choice, what all the songs had in common vs. how they were distinct etc... I became more interested but more importantly, ideas started flowing in! It was only by holding myself steady and pushing through "a wall" that I had a creative 'breakthrough'. All day I'd been trying to come up with a music project for myself and suddenly, my answer arrived, not by thinking but by listening...listening when I didn't feel like it. I gave Oh Wonder my full attention, which cleared the way for me to hear myself fully.
▶Cha
