OK I am close to finishing my second song with lyrics written by a woman named Anne Renahan.
Anne Renahan is a publisher, writer and photographer. She is working on an artist book at NES that stitches together aspects of two very different areas of interest, ancient Chinese jade and the textures of northern landscapes and weather, into a real and imagined journey through the local landscape, and selected aspects of the history of China/Iceland. Here is her instagram feed.
A group of us were talking one morning about the birds that fly in swarms outside the fish factory and how they look like shoals of fish and then she talked about her friend who gave her a necklace with a fish and how everytime she sees a fish she thinks of her friend and now when she looks at the birds she think they look like fish.
Melinda, one of the painters here, got this amazing picture of the birds. Melinda explores the fragility of Earth and everything that lives on it. Thanks for looking UP!
I love that idea of a symbol. I think of my mom when i see a grey whale mostly because i had a dream where a whale came to talk to me and it WAS my mother. It was so lovely and calm and now I think of her whenever I see a whale.
When I told someone about my whale dream they said it symbolized the beginning of a new journey. That was a long time ago.
I think that I would like my symbol to be an elephant. It’s a bit harder to see an elephant in everyday life (duh) but people already think of me when they see a little statue of an elephant and I have a whole shelf full of them because I’ve loved them since I was a kid. It was easy to get me birthday presents because everyone defaulted to elephant statues/stuffies/books/keychains so I am all set for being remembered when I die.
A few days after that conversation Anne handed me a poem. It’s a vulnerable thing to give someone a poem and then vulnerable when I make that into a song and hand it back.
But I did and it’s so beautiful.
You Left and Know I’m Thinking
Words Anne Rehan
Music by Lara Kroeker
I’m thinking you’re a fish
Silver like the fish you gave me
on a silver chain
I’m thinking birds are fish too
Silver like the fish you gave me
Silver winged
Silver finned
Slight shapes across the sky
I’m thinking you’re a fish
Silver like the fish you gave me
or a silver bird with fins
Swimming in the silver sky
The sounds a boomy but here is a little tiny part of a song I am working on. Its just a part of it. I repeat just a part of it. I want to layer more sounds and build it up into a crashing wave. You know that sound when a wave breaks on the shore then silently fades away. That’s what I want to capture. I’ll add more vocals and then take them out one by one. Now I’m heading home to sleep.
