A lot of thought went into choosing the April 24th release date for my album ‘Aquamadre’. As a longtime astrology enthusiast, I never take a date lightly, and spent a lot of time scanning the calendar for a day that seemed most supported by the stars. It had been four years since my last release, and I had somehow found myself sitting atop such a huge stockpile of unreleased songs, I joked that I felt 9-months pregnant with music. I could not have been more ready to finally give birth, but it had to be just right!
When the time came for my first single release this March, the tone in the U.S. had really shifted around Covid-19 just a few days before. It was suddenly no longer a confusing distant threat, but a fully arrived reality that would need some serious shifts in daily-life to cope with. It had also become abundantly clear that the album release tour I had been planning for months would need to be postponed indefinitely. I’ll admit that I at first thought to myself, what an unfortunate time to be putting out my record, especially after such a long wait! But after some careful consideration it occurred to me that the timing might actually be uniquely right.
Months before the album was anywhere near ready to be sent off into the world, I had written a bit of a mission statement in preparation. I started off by writing “It’s a tough world out there, but there’s also always a lot of beauty, love and goodness, still. And that’s where this album is coming from.” I had to laugh at the absurdity when the day finally came to announce the album. My past self couldn’t have been more spot on.
The title of the album ‘Aquamadre’ is inspired by, among other symbols of guidance, the archetype of Aquarius in astrology, and the Queen of Cups in tarot. Combined, they both embody a big piece of my intent as a musician; feeling things deeply, channeling emotions through creativity, and sharing helpful messages with the world in a way that is somehow healing. Though my songwriting has always been a deeply personal activity, the sharing them with the world bit has always been at least half of what makes it all so fulfilling for me! So much of what I write about consists of lessons learned and ways I’ve found to suffer a little less. So in an ideal world I always hope that my songs will leave people feeling inspired and even more curious about their own ability to heal and grow.
As I reflected on my mission statement, I couldn’t help but to see that for the type of mission I’m on, it was quite obviously a very special and maybe even perfect time to be putting out my record. You can’t watch all those heartbreakingly beautiful videos of Italians singing and playing music from their balconies without being struck on some level by the simple fact that in especially difficult times, human beings need connection through music more than ever. And whether it’s inspiration through my lyrics, a bit of hope, or even just a few sweet minutes of escape, I’ve repeatedly found myself feeling very fortunate to be in a position to offer up a little something useful to the world right now.
I also wrote in that mission statement: “this record is rooted firmly in my learned-first-hand and deeply held belief that true healing is possible, even when it seems utterly unimaginable.” And in a world and a moment in history that feels broken almost beyond repair, that’s the exact message I hope to share most right now,
However uncertain the future may feel, I believe that we can and will heal from this. And that in the process we can also learn, take a look at what’s been broken for years, centuries now and maybe even put things back together in a way that addresses those faults. Maybe we all forgot to remember how good it felt to be free, to be connected, to hug, to touch, to cram hundreds of people in a room together to listen to live music. All of that may not look the same by the end of this crisis, but I’m very much looking forward to returning to the new version of normal that will surely include all of those things. And I can’t wait to take it all for granted a whole lot less.
Listen to ‘Aquamadre’ here:
