Thoughts for February: Taking it Slow
The Company of Mother of the Revolution. Photography by Emily Goldie.
This month, as we begin to emerge from the creative hibernation and tax returns that January brings, We’re thinking about haste… or lack thereof. And why, sometimes, taking it slow is the best approach to getting things done.
Seán:
The algorithm put an Instagram post in front of me a few weeks ago by Songwriter, Olivia Rafferty, about wasted time and a period in geology called The Boring Billion. Without going into detail, this post alluded to some of the toxic perceptions which the creative industries both perpetuates, and allows to be insidiously perpetuated about productivity, ‘wasted’ time and visibility. Or at least that what spoke to me about the post…
Understanding how identity emerges:
As a relatively invisible creative (ie. someone who often works in the background as a producer, composer and instigator; and not a foregrounded artist) this is something that I regularly feel about the value of my work and whether I’m ever really doing enough to merit my place in the industry; or that my 15 (!) years of experience amount to anything visibly valuable that anyone would want from me.
I’ve also developed a - wholly self-inflicted - practice and portfolio which doesn’t immediately belong in, or align in terms of product, to any particular sub sector of the creative industries. My practice is broadly sound and music based, but this is applied in a multitude of disparate fields.
This is where slow comes in…
I’m in an ongoing process of realisation that core to my practice as an individual artist, and as a core part of archipelago, isn’t centred on what or when I release or produce a finished product; it’s centred on how I create and collaborate. This is far more integral to my identity as an artist, collaborator, and even person.
Unlike learning a new hard skill (whereby picking up new things can be quite an easy process) the more I know, the more convinced I become that this perspective on practice can only come from time and experience. It’s also in constant flux. It takes the idea of a slow process to the extreme because it’s never really finished. I don’t believe anyone can have a completely firm, unchanging, grasp on their practice and way of doing things. Anyone who says they do is probably a narcisist!
Creative Upcycling:
There is also a discipline based element to embracing slow too, though.
Anyone who listens to Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on the regs will know Peter Alexander Jobson’s drawling ident
“When men do great things, it takes them a long time”.*
*This obviously doesn’t just apply to men, in fact quite a lot of men spend a long time doing very little beyond taking up space (side eye to most of James Cordon’s output)
I recently revisited an old hard drive of half-started sonic ideas. Tunes I’d shut away/discarded/felt weren’t pertinent for the present.
A collection of unfinished (not quite) symphonies.
But after gathering dust, they’ve aged (as I have) and now with older and fresher eyes I’m very thankful for younger me for providing me such a rich inspiration board to play with now. The privilege to be able to collaborate with my own self. To Recycle/Upcycle/Renew these ideas with what I know now. This process can only emerge with the passage of time. Lots of the material was probably too charged with the day-to-day work of the various projects it was intended for to be of any perceived use at the time, but with the passage of time the ‘work management’, admin and challenges of those projects has dissipated; leaving just some unfinished sentences, and a mountain of riffs and synth patches that, with pleasant surprise considering my first point about my own sense of professional identity, feel very ‘Me’.
We live an impatient world and the fear of something not immediately catching fire can cause lots of ideas, that would thrive in a slow simmer, to not even catch spark at all.
We’ve talked about genius not being real here before, but anything close to that often doesn’t come when you’re looking at a timer ticking down. They’re often the solutions that come to you when have the space and time to take a step back, and look again from a little distance.
Now I’m not saying to go back through your teenage diaries mining for ideas. They’re probably cringe. But have ideas, jot thoughts, lean into the time-capsule of your own life and ideas, and maybe you’ll happen on them again. And like a tenner in a winter coat you haven’t worn in a while, it’ll feel like a gift. It’s also worth considering what might happen if and when future you returns to your current ideas and to make sure that you’re leaving something in the creative up-cycling time capsule for them.
Only the slow passage of time will tell…
Beth:
I have nothing as profound as Seán’s insight on the power of slow burn, which if you didn’t already know is fundamental to us making caring, meaningful, holistic work. Instead, like all good artists, I’m going to steal something better than my own ideas on the subject. So here’s Mary Oliver:
(and from now on if anyone asks me what’s next (🤮) at an industry event I’m simply going to reply, “I’m letting the voodoos of ambition sleep.”)
Today by Mary Oliver
Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.
But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.
Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.
Seán recommends:
A read: This made a bit of a splash in the news this week: Kate Nash’s evidence on State of Play: Performing arts touring in the EU. She’s been amazing on platforming the issues facing artists and anyone with any interest in music owes it to artists to clue themselves up on the bottoming out, carving up and deregulation of the music industry (it’s a long read but you can also watch the session)
A listen: The core inspiration for this month’s chat: I’m a year late to the table, but Typical Forever by Olivia Rafferty is a really nice listen with an engaged artistic back-story
A watch: If you’re in northern Europe at this time of year, and the clouds can bring themselves to dissipate, just watch the sunset draw out ever so slowly towards the summer. We’re past Lá Fhéile Bríde, or Imbolc, now and by the end of this month the sunset will be getting close to 6pm in Sheffield, outrageous ☀️
An event: It’s been ongoing since 2001, but there’s another 614 years to catch John Cage’s Organ2 / ASLSP installed at St. Burchardi Church, Halberstadt, Germany. In the interest of taking things slow, the next chord change is on August 5th this year. Can’t wait for it pals!
Beth recommends:
A read: In the throws of full lockdown anxiety in early 2020, staring into the deep, dark void of uncertainty, previous archipelago co-director, the excellent Laurence Young, sent me - in his infinite wisdom - a copy of Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost. And fuck me, the tonic it is. In case you didn’t know, certainty is a myth. Humans aren’t built for it, its a capitalist ploy (isn’t everything). Our soft bodies are actually attune to shifting tides, seasons, fundamentally - incremental cycles of change. Of course you need a pause in the mania to listen in to that call. This maze of a book makes you do that. The biggest, most beautiful defence of slow.
A listen: The perfect example of the slow burn is how Joni Mitchell finally, perfectly ages into Both Sides Now, a song she wrote at 23, in the definite recording she made aged 57. We all know and love it but deserve to listen to it always. For life, not just Love Actually.
A watch: Slow for me is the perfect marriage of lingering and longing, and not many films do that better than Celine Song’s impeccable Past Lives.
An event: One for my writer friends, and I give full credit to my friend and Sheffield legend Tommi Bryson for suggesting this rec. The Papatango Playwrighting Prize has just opened, so ease yourself into finalising your draft before the deadline on 16th March pals! And all applicants get feedback if you want it - FUCKING YES!