Infinity’s been stalking me lately. Turns up in the research, turns up at the mic when I’m meant to be improvising something else entirely. Getting in the way of every other thought. There must be a reason, and I know the nature of creative flow is to go with it. And trust.
Sometimes I’m standing at the microphone, mumbling nonsense at a melody, and eventually something sticks. It isn’t the highest moment of artistic endeavour, but hey, I’ve got to trust the process. I suppose what I’m searching for is all the things I know I want, need, love, and believe in.
Sometimes though, the mind overthinks in the fast lane and overtakes the moment. Where’s the hook? Where’s this song actually going? What am I even trying to say? And the one thing that grates me most: what’s the fucking point? That’s the one I need to dispel, because doubt grinds a creative thought down into egocentric stagnation. So excuse me, but two fingers to that, and a big huge fuck off. #noego
The process is searching for the flow, and when the flow happens, it all clicks together. It’s a beautiful thing. Even if the final song doesn’t land, so what. Maybe someone will like it. Maybe someone will love it. Maybe someone will hate it. But that’s their choice. My choice is to search for the next song in the TREVJ project, and that’s all I can do, with honesty and love.
So this popped up the other day: Prometheus. I knew the name the way everyone does, the Alien films, Mary Shelley’s “Modern Prometheus,” but honestly, I never knew the actual myth.
Turns out it’s some story. Bits of it echo Christ, but it’s a different animal altogether: defiance instead of surrender, theft instead of sacrifice, fire instead of forgiveness. And that’s the job, really. Research becomes a thought, a thought becomes a lyric, and suddenly there’s another direction to take.
Fitting too, since Light Within was my first record, and Prometheus, meaning “forethought,” was the one who brought light to the people. Didn’t plan that. Life’s funny that way.
The music is there, but the overall structure of the song is still a work in progress. With a firmer feel for how the lyrics are forming, though, it’s slowly coming together.
This post originally appeared on Trevj Music on Substack