all I ask
"Jamie All Over" - Mayday Parade
I'm forty years old and still dreaming about running away from home. I've lost count of the number of times I lose myself thinking about it. About leaving behind everything. Packing a bag. Boarding a plane. Escaping reality. To where exactly? Somedays I know. Others I'm not so sure. It's a feeling more than a place. It's the company more than the geography. It's the magic of Elsewhere. It's silly. I know I'm dreaming but..."please don't tell me".
back to the light
"Recovery" - Frank Turner
I was in a Home Depot the first time I heard a Frank Turner song. I don't go there often. I'm not handy. I'm not good at fixing things. You'd think I'd recall what I needed. But I don't remember anything. It's only the song that sticks out to me.
I remember hearing it. Stopping right where I stood. And, sending it to someone who means the world to me. I remember sitting in the parking lot. Not ready to leave so soon. Listening to it over and over again.
Songs do that, don't they? "[H]eart-stopping departures", Nick Cave calls them. When a song takes us out of ourselves. Out of our surroundings. Outside of everything and deeper into what it means for us to be.
It wasn't "Recovery" that I heard over the Home Depot loudspeakers that day, it was a song called "The Way I tend to Be". But it's from the same album, which I found at a great record store recently. I highly recommend it.
Sidenote: I got the image for this piece from the
's Weekly Challenge.
you're the reason
"Maybe You're the Reason" - The Japanese House
Since I started this Collage Paper Playlist series, I've become obsessed with playlists. I jump at the chance to listen to every one that Spotify makes for me. Ones made by people listening to similar things. Ones given to me by friends. Ones made by other artists, writers, and creators. Playlists are a kind of sonic collage. Every piece means something different depending on what it's next to. When it comes to life, you could say the same thing, couldn't you? A collage, playlist autobiography. Everything changes depending on the before and the after, and who you're sitting next to.
I was reading an interview with my favorite designer, Chris Ashworth, hallowed by his name, and somehow stumbled on to a playlist by photographer Breana Helders Mazzagatte. Her work is stunning, and her playlist is as atmospheric and lyrical as her photography. Towards the end of the playlist, I came across this song.
"Apathy's a funny feeling" the song says, and the search "for some kind of meaning" is too. I'm well acquainted with both and how easy it is to get lost in between the two. How closed off you can get pivoting. But I'm grateful to "a God I don't believe in" that I have people that always find a way to get to me. They're the reason I'm able to do anything.
a sign of life
"Learn to Fly" - Foo Fighters
I love the idea of this being something shared. A kind of community playlist. So, it's the best feeling when I get song recommendations and requests.
requested this song. It's one of my favorite songs by Foo Fighters. Maybe one of my favorite songs full stop.I tried to do the song justice. I'm not quite sure that I did. I think my work is getting too busy. I'm notorious for overdoing it. It's a strange paradox. I'm a reserved, unobtrusive person, who relishes quiet and subtlety. I don't know where that part of me goes when I'm designing, but I need to find him.
I never like to base a design on the song title. I like to look for interesting lines in the lyrics. It was tough with this one. I didn't want to use the phrase "learn to fly", but I wanted to nod to flight in some way. I also started experimenting with taking snippets of the lyrics in the attempt to compose them into something that feels different and new. Hope you like it Caro!
no name to call
"Neat Neat Neat" - The Damned
I am elated to have two requests in one playlist. Last week
requested The Cure, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was everything I could do to NOT make a playlist devoted exclusively to their songs. This week they requested this one.There's something special about classic punk. The grit. The raw honesty. The DIY spirit. The attitude. Old punk flyers have played a big part in influencing my collages and my typography. I hope I'm paying homage properly.
That's it for this week's playlist. If you have any requests, be sure to leave in the comments and we'll keep building this thing.
I love the balance you strike between image and text, and how that changes with each piece. I also hear you on debating how much "texture" to include in a given piece before it gets too busy and chaotic, especially when you start with a compelling central image.
Lovely work. I'm only dropping in another suggestion as it's been an earworm for me and one I've played over a few times. Your Ghost - Kristin Hersh. (I have eclectic tastes and often only like one song by an artist) Hope it inspires something.