How We Create

I love the study of creation: How one figures out what they want to do, the medium they want to do it in, and then they attempt to translate what’s in their head onto a more permanent canvas than their neural network. 

When musicians talk about their processes, writing albums specifically, they’ll usually say that the first few albums have direct influences. If you talk to a musician about their early works, you may hear, “I was listening to a lot of (insert artist here) when I was writing this album.”  

In that moment of creation, I believe that the artist knows what they want to say, but they don’t necessarily know the sounds that go along with it. They use other artists that they admire as frames of reference and, in turn, the finished product ends up resembling those whom the artist admires. 

Listen a little later to the artist’s body of work and you’ll notice a change in sounds. Usually around album three or four, when the artist has gained enough confidence and positive feedback to create to that point, the sound that comes out is more them than their heroes. 

Fundamentally, this is the creation process. We hold on to those we admire until we feel secure enough to bare our skin and our heart, as well, not just our soul. 

  1. zackshapiro posted this