Lighthouses
If there’s one thing I’ve appreciated so much on my musical adventure so far, it’s the people who have shone a light for me, along the way. It’s not the easiest thing, navigating your way, as an independent artist. As with any life dream, there are light and dark moments. Unexpected moments of encouragement and help from people in ‘high places’, and moments of plodding on, with just yourself and your dream. There are the people who cheer you on, and there are the naysayers. Demons, inside and out, that you have to face.
Which makes it even more heart warming when you meet people who shine a light for you, just when you need it … I think of them as my Lighthouses. And that help; that light, also comes in many forms.
People like you, who cheer me on are my Lighthouses. An artist’s dream is made possible, not just by the creativity of the artist, but by the people who really see what it is you are doing, and get it. Remembering those people (you!), shines a massive light on the sometimes stormy seas of the realities of being an independent artist.
People who have expertise they’ve been happy to share with me are my Lighthouses. I’ve been taught how to really sing, how to truly mine my experiences to craft a song, how to do basic recording, make videos, edit images …so much of this has been a DIY endeavour- there aren’t many independent artists who can afford to pay people properly for a lot of the jobs that need doing. So the generosity of people who believe in me and are up for helping for a nominal fee, or in exchange for one of my skills, or sometimes out of pure generosity, has lit me up in ways that I feel so grateful for.
Iain Archer, who produced my album has been a major Lighthouse for me. I had respected his work for a long time, before getting an opportunity to work with him, and had much enjoyed the music of other artists he has worked with – Lisa Hannigan especially. (And Snow Patrol and Frank Turner for name dropping at parties reasons, lol !).
In many ways I felt like Iain showed me the way when it came to recording, but he also really helped me trust myself, which was an amazing gift. You so often hear of producers who seem intent on insensitively put their stamp on any song they are working on, but my experience of recording my album was the complete opposite. Iain often ran with weird little ideas that I had, that I wasn’t even sure about myself. This really put me at ease, and helped me open up creatively whilst recording. It also helped that, when I climbed up his spiral staircase into his little attic studio, to see all his slightly odd, slightly rustic instruments; I instantly felt at home. Old banjos, autoharps, harmoniums and other strange instruments he’d found on his travels. Not that I’m some crusty old folkie, but I suppose you could say I nod in a folk direction every now and then. I learned so much from Iain, and I also felt so lucky to be working with a musical kindred spirit with so much experience.
In that time in the studio, we worked with many wonderful musicians who came in and added their flavours to the mix. One of these musicians was a fellow violinist named Jote Osahn. Like me, Jote has a classical background as a violinist, but (also like me) what she loves the most is putting all that training down, and writing from a very intuitive place- it was such a joy to work with her for the string parts on some of my songs.
As we worked, we got chatting about her work with the band Elbow on their album Seldom Seen Kid, back in the day… an album which I remember loving so much when it came out. As I was laying down those violin tracks, I found myself recalling such vivid memories of seeing Elbow perform Seldom Seen Kid in Wembley arena way back in 2009, with those fantastically memorable string parts, just after they had won the Mercury Music Prize … I have always loved the story of Elbow as a band, who worked for 17 years to get to that point of their Mercury success. It can be tempting to fall for the ‘overnight success’ stories of artists and bands, and it’s tempting to make musicians into these creatures that simply have this ‘x factor’ that catapults them into the limelight, or doesn’t. But that isn’t the experience of the vast majority of artists. The reality is usually far more soul-stretching, and gritty, and humbling.
But I digress. I suppose my point in sharing all this, is that whilst at times it’s tempting to tell myself that it’s just down to me, and my determination, to make this dream of mine happen, the truth is, that no one person can ever achieve a dream alone. There are always the Lighthouses. People who believe in you, appreciate you, encourage you, and inspire you to see a bigger picture.
There have been many of them. And there will be more. And you are one of them.
Thank you so much for reading this, and for appreciating it all.
Since you’ve read this far, you can help yourself to another free song as a THANK YOU for your interest in all the goings on of an independent musician such as myself. Please see instructions below*
Or if you would consider buying my album, please know that your support means so much to me and, well… makes it all possible, truth be told. Click here to hear snippets and buy Bitter Sweet.
Thank you.
Karen x
N.B. Listen on headphones or with speakers, to avoid strange distortion of the intro !!!
*Stream ‘Tired Heart’ here (for phones.)
