Here it is in all it’s glory!
This album was recorded in bathrooms and closets, nurseries and bedrooms. Within these digitized wave-forms are the sounds of our surroundings, our families and our lives. Music imbued with our humanity, our fear and our hope.
Reminder that purchase of the album on Bandcamp gets you two bonus songs.
The second single from the Moth To Flame project was let loose upon the internet on Wednesday. “Cinder” is one of our favorite tracks on the album. It has an eerie quality to it that took over early in the process. Dave has his own meaning for the lyrics he wrote and I have my own interpretation of what the song is about as well. We hope the listener finds their own meaning.
This whole album has been an experiment of sorts. We both just wanted to create something together, something that was unequivocally ours by melding our sensibilities together. It’s certainly not perfect like a AAA studio album and we knew that’d be the case from the start. We did our best to not chase the perfect take, although a couple songs did elicit that from us towards the end.
Mixing and mastering. To me they are almost one in the same. I think a really good mix probably doesn’t need to be “mastered” per se. I just try to keep an eye on clipping and watching my frequencies so that everything that’s in the song has a nice little spot to sit in the spectrum. Sounds easy I guess but sometimes I get so full of doubt about my ability that I start to overthink and run in circles. But I think I’ve leveled up with this project as I’ve modified my workflow within FLStudio to be more efficient. I made it a mantra to “don’t get it perfect, get it done”.
Album out this Monday, July 22nd @ https://moth-to-flame.bandcamp.com/album/moth-to-flame
Hello again you lot. It has been, what? A year and a half since my last post here. Well what can I say, life has me busy and exhausted but it’s all good. The kid is growing and learning at an exponential rate. It’s incredible. Neuron Dreamtime music is at a standstill but it’s all good. Instead, I spent what free time I had during the last year recording music with a lifelong friend, David Miller. We learned to play guitar together, we’re still neighbors to this day and we are super excited for this project that we’ve titled ‘Moth To Flame’. It’s all good.
(Scroll to the bottom for a visualization video for the first track “Healing Winds“)
(Visit Bandcamp to preorder a pysical or digital copy)
It is a six track self-titled album with a runtime of 26 minutes. It all started in the spring of ’23 when David and I reconnected with our old past time of jamming acoustic guitars on the porch. Soon he picked up on using Audacity to record and Google Drive to share tracks. Then it was off to the races. And it was all good.
Once we had the songs we wanted I would then spend a few months mixing and mastering and driving myself insane to the best of my current ability. Let’s be honest, we are both very much aware that this album is not perfect, that was never the goal, we just did what we did with what we had in the allotted time we have as family men. The building blocks for some of the songs date back to our late teens. We must be finally mature enough in both mind and spirit to put something cohesive like this together. These songs will forever have a special place in my heart. The whole process was cathartic to say the least. It was all good.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on enough. I will be updating the site once ‘Moth To Flame’ releases by embedding the Bandcamp player into the “Collaborations” page.
Here is a visualization video for “Healing Winds”.
Thanks for stopping by and reading and listening and allowing us into your lives.
-LM
The following is the blog post turned script for episode 3 of Mind Overrun.
To start, as I alluded to in the first episode, I have a sort of fear of public speaking, good old fashion stage fright. This podcast is an exercise at confronting that fear.
Second, I am to be a father next year. With my wife and I expecting our first. I find myself in an introspective space. A place of vulnerability and potential. And I ask myself the questions I’m sure most first time fathers ask themselves. What will I teach our child? Will I succeed in being a parent and raise an intelligent and thoughtful individual? Will I be a cool Dad?
So with these audio recordings I think about our child growing up and the probability of them becoming curious about what I “do” or what the possibilities are and in a realistic sense if I were to be struck down tomorrow or fifty years from now, at least there’s a small remnant of me left behind. In a way these episodes are for the kid, like lore notes or journal entries in a post apocalyptic video game. Because I know one thing for sure, all of our time is limited on this planet and you never know when your number might be up. There is no such thing as time to waste, nor time to throw away. And these words and the words I share with friends are here for posterity’s sake. For as long as there is a way to store and retrieve it. For the sake of always being able to hear my voice or read my words and feel the love. For however long that may last. Impermanence rules all but the chain of life runs forever.
I hope to continue creating after the initial months of our beloved newborn noob. I know I will lack sleep and have very little free time but as time passes I’m sure I’ll find new ways and adopt a newly evolved process.
Time is the most valuable thing and love is the most precious. And with those two things you can find peace. Whatever I may find myself doing I will do so with the same love and attention. So, sure, not everything ever goes as planned but everything happens anyway and time ticks and our hearts beat the countdown to our final exhale. And as we ride the spiral we still share and relate. We still bond and create. We can still give meaning to everything close to us.
My process is one of play and exploration. One of mining the depths of improvisation and synchronicity in an attempt to capture or at least imitate the magic that is found. Iterations often follow, as a brief change in perspective can open other doors. So try things in different ways. Play but pay attention. And always hold sincere intentions.
To create is to wield the power of the divine. Harness the universal expansion to bring novelty and meaning into existence where there was nothing before. When I paint, or produce music, I feel as if I am part conduit and part conductor. A receiver of consciousness that translates into movement, the coding of life, of experience. Conjuring islands to sprout in the sea of impermanence.
Now that our greatest collaboration is on its way, I can’t help but feel that I now have more confidence in my choices, in my identity, in my power of will. Doubt and mistakes will never go away but my relationship to them has changed. My perspective has been altered. And with it, so too will my creative process adapt and survey new lands.
Check out Mind Overrun on Anchor.fm and Spotify. You can also find it through the Google Podcasts app and in a couple other places. Still working on getting it as wide a release as possible. On the podcast I talk with friends and people I know about interesting topics concerning inspiration, motivation and the occasional weird or funny things that float into our minds. It’s all a work in progress and I hope it finds its audience.
-L
Finally finding time to coalesce some photography, video, audio, words and ideas into their respective places. My poor back has suffered for a week due to my poor posture on the flight home from Florida. I just had to look out the window for nearly the entire trip. Watching the Earth below go from light reflecting waves of ocean and swamp into the rolling hills and hollows of home, as the clouds meandered and shrouded as they pleased. The evening job hasn’t helped much, but the coworkers have. I work with some wonderful people who can always make me laugh.
The new album has been growing into something really special. I’d say it’s somewhere near half complete. Most of the mixes are in a comfortable place and I’ll be coaxing out some vocals within the next couple months. Then it’s off to mastering, then out to the world.
As for art, there are some small things that have manifested, a couple paintings and drawings connected to the short horror story (Flayed In Exile) that I was lucky enough to have published last year in audio/podcast form for Hawk and Cleaver’s “The Other Stories”. While the short is only just a chapter in a larger story that lay dormant currently, the images reinforce the direction I’m going and hint at twists and turns I have plotted out, so I don’t know when or if they will be shared.
Other things that are bubbling to the surface as I begin to block out time for Spring weather activities and personal goals. Including a podcast of my own. Probably free-form format with smaller bits breaking up a fifteen to twenty minute conversation or monologue. Still bouncing ideas off friends and family. Still incubating.
There. I did it. First post this year updating visitors new and old about the connectivity sparking behind the scenes. It can be difficult sometimes to find a reason to update or blog, especially when I purposefully shy away from social media because I know how much of a brain-hacking time-suck it can be to me with little to no benefit. It’s hooked me before and can do it again. Instead I choose to give attention to that which I want to grow.
I try to limit my “scrolling” to no more than an hour a day, which distances me from the FOMO and other traps of an engineered algorithm tuned to keep the dopamine loops rolling for as long as possible. But sometimes with that distance comes a quelling of the urge to share things on here, my own little nook on the internet.
Till next time (which will probably be when the album is done), remember to give attention toward that which you want to grow. Cultivate discipline which will pollinate motivation and bloom as inspiration. If you fall out of it, rise again like the sun.
I am still. I am here.
–L
To do creative work one must not wait for inspiration or motivation, one must do the work. To do the work is to appease the Muses. They cater to the devotion of the attempt, to the ritual of respect. For example, sitting your butt in the chair with fingers at attention upon the keys and wading through whatever viscosity your imagination may be at the time, just getting it OUT of your head and INTO this world is the first step.
Sandstone walls and oily sludge ideas will move you forward or hinder you, stuff that cannot hold will crumble or burn away. From this crumbling, this immolation, this failure, persistence will reveal ores, gems and artifacts. But most of the time these precious ideas are raw or fragile. They need to be refined after being mined. That takes care and deliberate function. Trust the process.
Not so fast. Do not rush. For if you focus on the finish line you’ll miss the hurdle. Dare not hurry to the next thing. Take a moment to be in the moment and maybe even allow boredom to set in. Alone, with your thoughts and senses. In this realm of momentary moment-ism you may find it scary or unsettling, fear not for this is normal. Fear bubbles from uncertainty, uncertainty bubbles from the unknown. We are learning that reality is a direct result of consciousness and the nervous system is a conduit of consciousness, not an originator. You and I. Us and them. Underneath it all, we are One.
But not so fast. You are an infinitely unique aspect of an unfathomable greater whole. Capital “C” Consciousness. No matter what beliefs you may hold or mock, it is undeniable that life, as we live it, is strange, mysterious, loving and hostile but suspected to be cyclical in nature and eternal. Our origins may be so far out there that the only possible thing that could express it is a mythology. Or a poem. But no matter the past, because its gone from our grasp. Not so fast… where to go from here? Now?
With the soft-launch of the Patreon page, the Estate, out of the way and as I pour more focus into my trilogy of short stories with NaNoWriMo in progress, I feel that I am in new form. I’m trying to change habits and double down on what I love to do. Allocating time and forcing myself to put in the hours even if I don’t feel “inspired”. I’ve multiple outlets for my creativity so sometimes focus is fleeting.
Some site updates:
-The inner workings of the site have been cleaned up, there were a few unused pages that needed deleted.
-The main menu now includes the “Collaborations” page with links to each of the collaborative myself or Neuron Dreamtime have contributed to.
-Site is connected to Google Analytics, so I’m just now learning this, it’s a little overwhelming. It’s something I should have done a while ago.
In moving forward, I plan to start a mailing list as an author in the future once the book is closer to being finished. I should probably do the same for ND sometime soon. Just trying to grow the audience with inter-connective art and gain those “1000 true fans”.
All of this as I try to zero in on what works for a small multimedia art business and what doesn’t. For a few months now I’ve been regularly tuning into and exploring the backlog of the podcast “The Creative Penn with Joanna Penn”. Her show about being an indie author and the journeys of independent publishing and story writing and creativity is absolutely what I was looking for when I went searching for podcast with information rich content and a motivational push. She has suggested amazing non-fiction for motivation and talks proper establishment of brand and goes in depth into the marketing behind the movement as an independent. I cannot praise her enough in helping to light the fire under my ass that will light my way into the future, the fire I so desperately wish to ignite. Not to be famous, but to come into one’s own, so to speak.
My hope is that those reading this, and that follow what I do, are at least somewhat inspire to pursue the things that bring them joy and explore the possibilities. Everyone is a conduit of creativity.
“As the gates open to a roundabout encircling a great fountain, strange songs can be heard from an indiscernible location. The skeletal forms of the architecture appear bare but are interestingly not. The deeper you look into it you begin to recognize fractal forms engaged in a subtle tachykinesic movement. Every surface appears to be alive.”
Become a Patron!
It’s spent months in the making and incubation but now it’s at a mature enough state to be open to the public. The subscription is based on per creation, or “Exhibit” (i.e. a paid post). I went with that method instead of a monthly subscription because I doubt my ability to keep up with my own expectations. This way I can *attempt* to get a monthly schedule going to the point I feel confident enough to switch the method to recurring monthly subscription. Patreon is still relatively new to me and it will take some time to learn the ropes in building a community of supporters.
When creating art, even with an established plan, I lose myself in the possibilities and struggle with self doubt. When I look at a blank canvas I see the infinite. Miraculously, once an idea is set upon, infinity splinters into a new infinity. The painting, or the song, or the story can go in any direction. But as time is traveled and space is identified, what becomes is a cross section of many infinities, captured or frozen in time. That’s the fun part and what I revel in. And where I get lost. But I eventually find my way back. Decisions are made. Paint is brushed, notes are played and words are written.
“Finis coronat opus.”
Self-doubt craters the path to fulfillment. Puddles of uncertainty splash amidst the trudging trajectory of creative pursuit. With talent and potential set aside, the fuel to push it further requires tenacity and forgiveness.
I’ve made certain changes in my relationship with my day(night)-job. It was a decision made with many aspects in mind. In these strange and exciting times I find myself drawn to, more than ever, the art of story telling and the discipline of self sufficiency. My personal story is at a crossroads of doing what is beckoning within my mind and heart and working within the confines of what has been decided by society of generations past.
Some projects stir the urge to show and share, to those that find it worth seeing, the how’s and why’s of technique and experiment. Additionally, some end results and final pieces can be achieved and realized from a level of community driven development.
In negotiation for a more flexible schedule I had to take a cut in my hourly wage. Capitalistic resurgence of time wasting in my duties and the climate of global health have enticed the creative, freelance side of me into action. Alas, to maybe make a small amount of supplemental income, I have signed up with Patreon. And in parallel, I have begun writing, seriously, my first short story. It is here that I wonder and fear what is next. Should I attempt mainstream publishing? An independent approach in crowdfunding and distribution? What hurdles await me in the world of writing other than the actual act of writing and all the editing that comes with it? I feel like I should approach it just like an independent Neuron Dreamtime release and take the brunt of the work needed. The Patreon project will not consist of one genre or even one medium. It will be a plethora of things in the long run but at the start it will seem mediocre. You gotta aim for the stars to get to the moon.
Blueprints are being drafted for a new phase of construction. A step into the realm of crowdfunding and subscription based content. Walls will be erected to house these oddities of the Dreamtime and the various media they animate.
To live a life of artistic pursuit and humble living is the wish I cast with every breath. I constantly remind myself that life is too short, the pursuit of money will not make you happy in the long run, and to follow your creative and curious heart is liberty. We take for granted every minute of every hour of every day. I am taking ownership of my life and bringing with it something to share with the world. I offer myself, who I am, to those who aim to reach something similar in these circumstances, something better, if even for a moment. I’ve always seen what I do as hobby(s) when I’ve wanted them to be so much more. I am not looking for fame. I am looking at the act of creating as my purpose.
So the Habitue Hypothesis is this: if I find it within myself, to approach my hobbies as a job, and the content finds an audience, I should be able to kick myself into high-gear and make some amount of supplemental income via supporters and collaborators. All the while, hopefully, fostering a sense of community within my audience.
As I mentioned earlier I have become extremely interested in storytelling and writing. I feel like it’s a common thread in that with each ND album I loved building the thing as a whole. The art. The words. All of it. And even in painting, there is a story somewhere. Anyway, this story I am working on is one inspired by Romero films and books like The Road. The collapse of society as we know it, brought about by this hideous plague. But, of course, I’m trying to bring my own flavor and formula to the table. I’ve had the blessing of honest and true friends who have helped me through the process, who have helped me battle my own self-doubt. I am eager to share what’s in store. More on that to come.
I would love to make a living via excreting my soul into creative projects. But alas, I tell myself to remain “realistic”, to not hold high expectations, to take it one step at a time. The current state of world health and economic hardships that many people are facing right now make it hard for me to ask for any kind of help, especially financial.
The Patreon page is not active yet but will be in the coming weeks, maybe days, after ironing out some roughness and trimming some fat. In this process I hope to establish a cohesive vision that will appeal to others and be an enjoyable experience.
I feel there is nothing to lose in attempting this prospective endeavor. Starting small with just one tier available at launch (three more are already blueprinted) but it will definitely grow as I settle in to the new grind and get a feel for the land upon which we will build as a community. At the worst, if it fails, I’ll be where I am at. And that’s fine too, I guess. Doesn’t mean I won’t try again.
TL;DR – I have a Patreon page dropping soon. Send me money to support my dreams and I’ll do my best to inspire and collaborate. Also, I am writing a horror story. More to come, as always.
-LRM
Neuron Dreamtime 
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