Artist Highlight: Austin Farrell
I'm always fascinated by the process of how people do various tasks, especially when it comes to things that I have no concept of such as: writing a song. I have experience arranging music and helping Connor with melodies, but I have never sat down with a melody in my head, decided on some chords and set out to write a song.
Today one of my good friends Austin Farrell, a phenomenal singer-songwriter from Portland, OR took the time to describe writing a song in great detail. Austin used to play drums in Eugene based band, The Resinators, but has taken some time to focus more on his solo career. This is a big leap for Austin, as going from working on music with a group to by yourself can be a challenging endeavor, but I have faith in Austin and I can't wait to hear what he has been cooking up.
In the process Austin brings to life below, you can get an incredibly detailed look into the mind of a songwriter and how they seek out to capture the perfect melody.
Usually, we ask our Artists Highlight a question, but this week we wanted to try something different and give the artist a blank canvas.
So without further adieu: Austin Farrell ladies and gentlemen.
Make sure you follow him on Instagram: @austinfarrellmusic
And Twitter: @austinfarrellmusic
Today one of my good friends Austin Farrell, a phenomenal singer-songwriter from Portland, OR took the time to describe writing a song in great detail. Austin used to play drums in Eugene based band, The Resinators, but has taken some time to focus more on his solo career. This is a big leap for Austin, as going from working on music with a group to by yourself can be a challenging endeavor, but I have faith in Austin and I can't wait to hear what he has been cooking up.
In the process Austin brings to life below, you can get an incredibly detailed look into the mind of a songwriter and how they seek out to capture the perfect melody.
Usually, we ask our Artists Highlight a question, but this week we wanted to try something different and give the artist a blank canvas.
So without further adieu: Austin Farrell ladies and gentlemen.
It could happen at any moment.
Most recently, it was while scrubbing a pan I had used to make my dinner only an hour before. At that point I wasn’t even aware of what was happening, but I began to mouth lyrics. The words were bubbling out of my head to the rhythm of my hand scrubbing the pan, and the running water provided a drone-like quality that kept the words coming out at a steady tempo.
Before I knew it I was singing a whole verse. A verse that I had never heard before. Words that came from my own experience. An explanation of a moment in my life that I kept going back to, time and time again. Trying to make sense of it, each time re-living it, to capture each detail so as never to forget it. As if each time I revisited in my mind, I was wringing out a cloth rag soaked in memories over the mouth of a man scared to lose any drop of detail within those memories.
And yet, out of nowhere, in a seemingly mindless activity, descriptions and feelings sprung forth in lyrics and melodies that perfectly conveyed what I’d been thinking of for the past couple of months. Like trying to say an unknown word on the tip of your tongue, and finally I was able to speak that word.
A song.
I dropped the pan and walked as quickly as I could to my studio. In reality, my studio is just the bedroom next to mine. I removed the bed and kept the desk and threw all of my music gear into that room. So it’s now got the label of, “studio”.
Without knocking over the kitchen chairs, and carefully avoiding a collision on a b-line to my guitar and my lyric book, I moved quickly with my head down and my awareness imbedded deeply in my mind. I was frantically repeating the lines over and over in my head so as not to forget even one syllable, one rhythmic beat of a single sound.
In the same way that I had done a thousand times before, I opened my guitar case, pulled out my guitar, grabbed my writing pen, opened my notebook, and turned on my “voice memo” app on my phone.
Then I began to writing the song.
This is how I’ve always written my songs. Well, to be fair, it’s the most exciting way I’ve written a lot of songs. It’s not the only way. But there is something special about that magical flow of lyrics and melodies that come out of seemingly nowhere, that you must capture before they’ve gone into thin air. It’s a compulsion. It’s an obsession. It’s a must. It’s a gift from God, or a Goddess, or the Universe, whatever you’d like to call it. It’s as much a part of me as any bodily function or mental or physical. I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember, and I imagine I will continue until right up until I meet that God or Goddess or Universal One-ness.
Songwriting seems to be just another natural phenomenon of this beautiful existence that we share in. Not unlike the miracle of a few drops of water forced from the depths of the earth out the side of a mountain. It slowly makes it’s way downward. Over cliffs, through forests, and into the valley as a small creek until it joins forces with other streams. It grows and grows in power and influence until it becomes a full blown river that is undeniable, with equal potential to destroy as well as give life.
I would have no purpose without this beautiful process. I live for tapping into the sacred life-force that music provides.
My name is Austin Farrell. I am a singer/songwriter from the Land of Falling Water. This is what songwriting is to me. This is my River.
Most recently, it was while scrubbing a pan I had used to make my dinner only an hour before. At that point I wasn’t even aware of what was happening, but I began to mouth lyrics. The words were bubbling out of my head to the rhythm of my hand scrubbing the pan, and the running water provided a drone-like quality that kept the words coming out at a steady tempo.
Before I knew it I was singing a whole verse. A verse that I had never heard before. Words that came from my own experience. An explanation of a moment in my life that I kept going back to, time and time again. Trying to make sense of it, each time re-living it, to capture each detail so as never to forget it. As if each time I revisited in my mind, I was wringing out a cloth rag soaked in memories over the mouth of a man scared to lose any drop of detail within those memories.
And yet, out of nowhere, in a seemingly mindless activity, descriptions and feelings sprung forth in lyrics and melodies that perfectly conveyed what I’d been thinking of for the past couple of months. Like trying to say an unknown word on the tip of your tongue, and finally I was able to speak that word.
A song.
I dropped the pan and walked as quickly as I could to my studio. In reality, my studio is just the bedroom next to mine. I removed the bed and kept the desk and threw all of my music gear into that room. So it’s now got the label of, “studio”.
Without knocking over the kitchen chairs, and carefully avoiding a collision on a b-line to my guitar and my lyric book, I moved quickly with my head down and my awareness imbedded deeply in my mind. I was frantically repeating the lines over and over in my head so as not to forget even one syllable, one rhythmic beat of a single sound.
In the same way that I had done a thousand times before, I opened my guitar case, pulled out my guitar, grabbed my writing pen, opened my notebook, and turned on my “voice memo” app on my phone.
Then I began to writing the song.
This is how I’ve always written my songs. Well, to be fair, it’s the most exciting way I’ve written a lot of songs. It’s not the only way. But there is something special about that magical flow of lyrics and melodies that come out of seemingly nowhere, that you must capture before they’ve gone into thin air. It’s a compulsion. It’s an obsession. It’s a must. It’s a gift from God, or a Goddess, or the Universe, whatever you’d like to call it. It’s as much a part of me as any bodily function or mental or physical. I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember, and I imagine I will continue until right up until I meet that God or Goddess or Universal One-ness.
Songwriting seems to be just another natural phenomenon of this beautiful existence that we share in. Not unlike the miracle of a few drops of water forced from the depths of the earth out the side of a mountain. It slowly makes it’s way downward. Over cliffs, through forests, and into the valley as a small creek until it joins forces with other streams. It grows and grows in power and influence until it becomes a full blown river that is undeniable, with equal potential to destroy as well as give life.
I would have no purpose without this beautiful process. I live for tapping into the sacred life-force that music provides.
My name is Austin Farrell. I am a singer/songwriter from the Land of Falling Water. This is what songwriting is to me. This is my River.
You can stream all of Austin's music here: https://tinyurl.com/ycw57nxk
And Twitter: @austinfarrellmusic
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