Reflections on Music Collaberation

Collaboration within music often feels high-stakes and extremely vulnerable. There is a select roster of artists I have been fortunate enough to have met and discovered, with whom we share similar values regarding music and how we should think, act, and create, so that our work can serve as statements on where we believe culture should move next. There is always an anxiety and risk associated with creative dissonance, such as when a studio session ends with one artist feeling really excited and another feeling unsatisfied with the work, thinking it could be more than it is. The stakes are high as each piece of work created with energy and intention impacts our journeys as artists and the relationship we have with our art and the act of making itself. Working on this track has been one of the rare instances where I’ve experienced an effortless flow of creativity and energy exchange in my years of making music. Amongst all the stakes, it felt like every decision we made was in service and submission of the music and the feelings they provoked, which guided us until its completion. We plan to shoot a video for it in a couple of days. As sound is the core of my practice, I believe that this video will fulfill the criteria for interdisciplinary work for this assessment and, more importantly, will complete a process that still feels unfinished at present. As both of our practices involve performance art and a strong inclination for visual direction, it feels only right to take another risk and attempt the creation of this video in order to see the idea through to the end.