I have started a collaboration with a poet and translator named AK.
A collaboration with poet & translator AKaiser and her poem, “Astronaut, or Blues Singer” (glint, Milk & Cake Press).
https://akexperiments.org.
AK has a book published called glint that she left it on my bed one evening before I got home from the studio. I sat on my small bed at midnight listening to the wind whistling and watching the snow fall and flipped through the book looking for a piece that might work as a song. I landed on a page of words where I could feel Iceland (although it’s not ABOUT Iceland specifically) but ultimately it spoke to me about loneliness and isolation.
The poem that I used is called “Astronaut, or Blues Singer“.
The next day I started the bones of the song and got AK to listen because when you write from someone else’s words you need to move things around and I wanted to make sure the integrity of them poem was not altered. I realized that I only took the last page of the poem and I had missed the first part (that’s what happens when you do things at 2 in the morning). So I decided to layer those extra words into the background as texture in the song.
I love the words in the chorus…
Rhythm of lift – inertia decent
Rooting it’s way attaching life
Delve into it. Sit with it.
Float it, sing it
split the moon hold on.
I’m not finished it yet but here is a little tiny listen to the chorus. It’s boomy and it’s not great sound but I want to post my process and it’s not about perfection (yet). At some point I will record it properly and release it as part of my album.
