Can you dance your lows into highs?

Hi all, by now you know that SHYNE has changed course and is developing a new approach that includes both acoustic and digital sounds. Your first question might be “why?” We were on a really good tip with our purely acoustic sound, and we have a debut album that we are very proud of! (Btw you can find it here (hint hint J)). So why go in a new direction when we were already rocking?

Well, the answer will be somewhat intricate. Maybe a little opaque, even. We are, after all, artistes J.  But here goes…

For us, going down the route of doing original music will, by definition, mean we are doing so to express an “inner voice”. It’s not just about the music, about playing in front of people, having punters party all night long, or even about having our faces on TV (YouTube, actually). We have a deeper reason and purpose to what we doing that drives our passion for the band. What might that be? Well you will forgive me when I answer opaquely… its a work in progress, unfolding with each song we produce. However it does involve words like inner truth, spirit, artistry, justice, reverence, passion, appreciation, emotional release, and uncovering angles on life that typically get ignored in pop music. The world at large is in the throws of massive change: exciting, scary, full of both danger and opportunity; and we are excited to be partaking in this global journey with our music.

Added to that: both Sims and I have a history and interest in a wide range of music. I grew up listening to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, local jazz  and, a personal favourite of both of ours, Leonard Cohen, amongst a wide range of other music. And let’s not forget my stint in the electronic pop / dance band, Qkumba Zoo. On any given day Sims will be listening to Florence and the Machine, the National, Radiohead (in all their recent electronica shoe-gazing glory) and sexy house, amongst… a wide range of other music. So, we connect to music across the many streams of our modern (and not so modern) culture. And we want that auditory tapestry to reflect in our music because sound, in and of itself, has a “message”. It is a carrier wave of “purpose”.

So there we were a few months ago, two bemused souls peering  into the basket that is our music in SHYNE, thinking and feeling about how we want it to “represent”.  Exactly the sort of place that leads to big decisions. It became quite clear that the bottom line is we both feel driven to express the passion inside by using the broad musical lexicon that inspires us. And this lexicon includes both acoustic and digital sound. Well played acoustic music is raw and primitive, able to reach down into the dirt and up towards the heavens where emotional beauty is a siren call (whoa Owl… calm down on the poetic metaphors!).  Digital sound has an extremely broad pallet and reach, allowing our imagination free reign when composing. Both Sims and I are composers at heart, so having access to the world’s sounds is inspirational (if not somewhat daunting).

Hence, after some serious soul searching we came to the conclusion to start on a new aural journey, which we welcome you on. With any luck my explanation makes sense to you, at some level. You will have hopefully heard our first steps down this road here and in my next blog I will describe the process we go through to make the music. Thanks for reading, and thanks for LISTENING!