New release FINCHES now available

thats right. 

you can download the album for free at:

jacobfurr.bandcamp.com

while you're there be sure to "like" the album if you enjoy the music and let your facebook friends know about it too.

id love if you passed the album along to a friend. if you do, send me a message and ill send you a preview song for my next project (its about ships)...

thank you so much for your support and listening ear. im very proud of this project and glad you get to hear it.

-jacob

why

its ready. ive got the songs and album artwork loaded onto jacobfurr.bandcamp.com.

im pretty excited about giving this project to you.

its final title is "FINCHES".
its a 3 song exploration of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird"
and i'm glad i did it.


why? because it made me realize i can set my mind intentionally to a creative task and come out with something that im extremely proud of. ive mentioned before how my songwriting in the past has felt haphazard and disjointed. it was a challenge to sit down and write songs around a specific idea this time, instead of just collecting songs that came up randomly through noodling on the guitar. and i liked it. i enjoyed keeping my mind on target, brainstorming, editing (more than i have ever done before), and working towards a clear goal. it was thrilling to see the final version.

this process brought up a lot of questions as well. mainly questions like:

"why do i even do this?"

i know why i write (sort of). i love words. i love the way they twist and turn on the tongue and in the mind. i love their ability, that only belongs to them, to create worlds and visions and feelings. and i want to be a part of that. i write because i want to participate in this swirl.

i also write because i, like most people i think, want to be heard. we all want someone to hear us. to take us seriously and listen to what we say, think or believe. our basic human operating motive, (besides survival) is communication with other humans. so i write because i want to connect to you. i need that inter-human relationship. i try to do this through story and song. i used to think i wrote just for myself and that others hearing my songs was no big deal to me. but i can't honestly say that anymore. i honestly want you to hear me. not because i think im the next big deal, or that you'll get so much from hearing my songs, but because i like interacting with you through this music.

and i want to hear you. if im singing into a void, so be it i guess. but i dont think i am. i dont think any of us are. whether we are writing poems, solving problems, building houses, or just making it through our day. we do not exist in a vacuum.

in trying to make sure that you heard about what i was doing, i started to wonder about how songwriters "promote" their music. and it made me a little uneasy. its very gimmicky a lot of times. even writing a blog to give me an "online presence" smacks a little of salesmanship. 

which isnt necessarily a bad thing.  if i think my project is good and im proud of it, i want you and as many other people as possible, to hear it. to download it. to spread it around and give it to your friends. ive been convinced recently of the fact that craftsmanship can come in many forms and that a craftsman should be as good as he or she possibly can be. if im working as hard as i can at my craft (whatever it is) i should take pride in it. i should be willing and want you to be a part of it as well.

that is why i write, record, and give away. because i want to be a craftsman of words who is connected with his friends and listeners.

so tomorrow, will you come and connect with me for 15 minutes of music?

-jacob

Accidents

So I'm working my way slowly towards the completion of the, as yet un-named, To Kill A Mockingbird album! I have one track mastered, another is about halfway ready, and there is one more that I want to dive into here with this blog post.

I was reminded this past week about the influence/impact that the Accidental has on artwork.

let me start with a story.

i had an entire song recorded. i went to export the song. i then saved the export over the original tracks,(essentially deleting them) and erased any chance i had of reworking the song without re-recording the whole thing all over again.

this was an accident.

and frustrating.

but thats okay, because i think accidents/imperfections/problems give life to whatever work is being created. there is a level of excellence in every good work of art. be it a painting, a musical score, a sculpture, the building of a house, or the creation of anything. but could it be that the mistakes and failures along the way give more life to something created than if it had just come out right the first time?

mistakes make for good stories.
accidents make for new ways of thinking about things.
imperfections add detail to what could have been a very bland and perfect thing.

i have songs whose final recorded versions of  lyrics are the result of a breath not taken deep enough so that some words get omitted. words that i thought were essential. but must have just been weighing things down or else they would have not fallen off.

so losing the tracks i had worked for days on resulted in me taking a deeper look a what i had recorded and coming to the conclusion that i hadn't given it my all the first time around. i was trying to cover up a mediocre performance with lots of layers and effects that i thought would finally make the song click. the mistakes made there did not add to the song. they did nothing but make me realize how quickly i was trying to rush something good out.

none of this is to say that you should not strive for excellence or perfection in whatever you are creating or doing. but it is to say that the ability to look mistakes in the face, learn from them, include them, and celebrate their influence is a great opportunity for growth.

so im going to keep striving for the best i can play, sing, and record, but now with an appreciation for good mistakes.

ive begun a whole new set of tracks for this song. ive slowed it down, stripped it of extra needless instrumentation, set it in a new key, and simplified the melody. all of this work being the result of a simple accident. in the end, im feeling much better about the song.

i think you're going to like it too