TRANSMISSION
Where does what I make come from? In all honesty, it comes from a place that I can feel inside of me. I have know this place since I was a kid. I can feel and account for the people who have inhabited this soul before me. I can feel them looking through my eyes. Maybe I’m crazy….Maybe a little more than maybe…It matters not..That’s where it comes from…
LAURENTIAN
“…He makes the viewers feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall” . This is part of a quote form Rothko regarding the Laurentian library of Michaelangelo. In looking at Rothko’s work, I feel a kinship with not wanting to be a minstrel…someone’s baclground entertainment. Laurentian is my answer to not being the background….Not being your “Piano for Fucking Studying Playlist”
SOLID GROUND
My solid ground is a foundation that exists within me...
Not my ego or concept of myself. It lies beyond.
Since I was a young child, I have had the intuition and guidance of those that have lived within this soul prior to me. I was sure I could feel someone else looking through my eyes. And I was certain that I would be looking through the next person's eyes as well. I carry the same feelings today.
Whenever I stray away from the guidance of my solid ground, these people will ensure that I find my way back...They know I cannot be far away for too long, I will lose myself in trying to be someone else. My solid ground demands a lot from me, but in return I get to live a life on my own terms without regret.
I get to live beyond what I think I am.
Beyond what I think I should be.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
FERNWEH
Fernweh means a desire for far-flung places....The opposite of homesickness. I have lived my life through this lens since I was a child - to be somewhere else, and by extension be someone else.
Now, as I find things pleasantly merging, this Fernweh lens seems to be melting away, though not entirely. Maybe that place, or places which exist far away and perhaps only in my imagination will never leave; they might be the reason I keep on making and working. Who's to know.....
(Click on the album cover to listen)
WHAT REMAINS
What Remains after all is said and done?
After we've cancelled everybody?
After we've martyred some and made villains of others.?
What remains of our person after we've finished selling ourselves to these huge data corporations?
When I was a kid it was the job of musicians and artists to resist the vast middle-ground majority in order to discover and augment
the limits of our existence. To challenge the status quo....
What Remains when all of this is done?
When we have been rounded off enough to become palatable for everyone?
it seems so harmless, posting and liking online. But, have a look around.
Notice how everyone is falling in line, how people
jump on bandwagons so very quickly, not thinking for themselves.
What will remain when all is said and done?
(Click on the album cover to listen)
RADIANCE
When I was about 14 years old. I started internally hearing music without any discernible rhythms - just notes/chords.
I found this kind of music so cathartic, exactly what I needed at that time. Throughout the years, the music has come back to me, often when I look at a particularly beautiful landscape and think to myself "imagine the music I could make if I lived here".
Over the years it has become apparent to me that this music is the merging of energies both external and internal. Though I would argue there's no difference between the internal and the external, anyway... When I make and listen to this music, I feel as though I (my concept of self/ego) melts away and I rejoin the greater consciousness - whether the be the universe or God or Buddha it matters not. But I do indeed, feel a radiating force traveling in and around me.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
PRECIOUS CHILD
A child is precious.
Worth more than their weight in gold.
Innocent, impressionable and open to all things in the world.
They react and behave with total intuition, closer to the natural world than any adult.
Despite a child being so precious, they are yelled at. They are abused. They are formed in the mold
of people not worthy of being guardians.
Children end up being pawns in the games of adults. The games of esteem, reputation and shame.
When a child is mistreated, it stays with them. And each time they reflect on that treatment, they return to being a child - scared and unsure.
To overcome one's childhood, one needs to return to those times and see what you could not see as a child. That it was not your fault. A child
will always make experiences about them. They were not smart enough, pretty enough, or just plain enough. Living that way makes life difficult, it
makes love difficult, shit, it makes breathing difficult sometimes.
Looking back, I've realized that I have been enough this whole time. I was precious, simply by being a child. A child who as every child does, needed assistance in navigating the world.
Listen to this album to understand that you were precious as a child. You have always been enough, regardless of money, work ethic, or any other arbitrary system we've concocted.
Most importantly though, ensure that you communicate to the children in your life how precious they are. They need it more than being told what they're doing wrong, and how they can be better. You will both be thankful…
--
YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A FAKE BUDDHIST
Gurus are everywhere..
They can fix you, and for just a small price...
They promise you inner peace, just don't wear color.
You'll hate yourself less, just get rid of all your stuff.
You will become enlightened, just disown your family and friends, because a new and better group is waiting for you.
There's a lot of people posturing in this world. Wanting you to believe that they have answers, and convincing
you that you have questions.
These people make the world worse, they monetize their abilities of manipulation and destroy anything that comes into their path. All the while
rationalizing their words and actions.
Trust your judgement.
F*ck these people
Think for yourself.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
THE NEXT HORIZON
When is enough, enough?
How many goddamn metrics are we supposed to have in our lives to grow happiness, contentment and purpose?
Track your calories. Track your productivity. Track your sleep. Don't listen to your body....have a stupid watch tell you when you are allowed to exercise.
Upload your data, and have someone else determine whether you are living "your best life". Which is a piece of crap saying, by the way....
We are not perfect beings, and yet we are being sold that we can hack and improve every single aspect of our lives. Every single thing must reach its zenith. To do otherwise would be a sin....a sign that you are indeed that lazy a-hole you have suspected you are.
"Who doesn't want a better life?" they ask....Sounds awfully familiar to "Who doesn't want to ensure they go to heaven after death?". At least to me it does...
We are being sold bullshit. You are not an equation.
When will this nonsense stop? And, if it ever does, will you ever be enough for yourself? Or will that next juice cleanse be the final piece of the puzzle. Perhaps if you buy that overpriced, overhyped mattress you'll get back in your own good graces.
People say that, "life is a journey", and whilst I do not disagree, I also believe that every moment of your life is THE destination. In my mind, viewing it any other way means that you are waiting for some eventuality before life means something. It (Life) means everything right now. Everything has led to this point....
Don't fall for this horseshit. Get yourself out of their sight and live the life you truly want.
Listen to your own mind, body and soul. Somebody with an algorithm will never know the true you...
(Click on the album cover to listen)
LOST
The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, forcing the country's society to move backwards.
Forcing women and girls to cut their present and their futures at the knees.
How many lives will be lost? How many destinies destroyed through the fear and idiocy of the most terrifying mob mentality.
To those who have been lost and to those who we will lose, I give you my deepest thoughts and intentions with this piece.
(Click on album cover to listen)
HOME
I have had trouble around the concept of home. I am a first generation child, who then left their home country early on. Living in different places - moving quite a lot. There is no one place I can call home. In being mixed race, the color of my skin does not assume the content of my character or my mind - though my skin color definitely tells a story to others, however inaccurate that story may be.
So then for me, and others like me, what is home? More importantly perhaps, do I even need a home?
For myself, in my life and music making I have come to understanding that home is only a thought, nothing more. I am part of, and therefore the universe. Wherever my human-scale concepts and mind may be, I am always where I belong.
Wishing you well.....
(Click on the album cover to listen)
I WAS HERE
How does a child lose their voice?
More than likely, it is through external circumstances that a child’s right to speak and be heard is revoked. In my own life, people have attempted, with differing results to remove my voice. To push me down so far into the ground, that only distant murmurs are heard. Their hard work got the result(s) they wanted, but only for a time. Who I am as a person, as someone who is supported and buoyed by the people who have inhabited this soul prior to me, always found a way to return to the surface. Kicking and screaming.
In the world at this time, there are countless children who are being stripped of their voice. I hope that this piece gives you time to understand their presence in the world. Time for you to understand that we as connected beings have a duty to live our lives so that those children can speak through you.
In terms of the people who are in your day to day life, I hope this piece encourages you to communicate to those people that you see and hear them. Let them know that they are appreciated and valid. It may sound like new age nonsense - but, it’s better to communicated the good to the people in your life everyday, than to never say anything and regret it later on.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
THE DESERT
I believe that within all of us there is a place where all the agony, the rejection and the other miscellaneous pain exists. For our own survival, we group all of these experiences together and cordon them off from the rest of our minds. Only turning our view towards them once in a while.
In my dreams I exist in a "combination city". A place which is a mish-mash of all the places I have lived. On the edge of this city there is a black desert. The matte sand and glossy sky are both deep, crude oil black. The palm trees keep their green leaves, their trunks though match the sand and sky. There is no moon, yet light exists. This is where I keep all of my painful memories.
I can walk through the cold night and visit my memories with full hindsight. I can kneel down to talk to my seven year old self and give him the hug he needed all those years ago. I can sit with myself from but two years ago and coach myself about the warning signs of my own enabling. On the surface a place built from one's hardest memories sounds awful, but in wanting to move forward, there is no better place to begin.
One of the best things I have ever done, was to revisit my past with present-self hindsight. I found that I could evolve my memories and reframe them. Not to remove the negativity, that's naive. But rather, deepen my understanding of what happened, why it needed to happen, and what to do now.
We have found that memories are not based on recall, but are actually reconstructed - every time a memory is recalled, it is slightly different. Which leads me to the question for you.....What would you like to do with your memories? Are you willing to go your own desert and revisit your past?
I hope this album acts as a stimulant towards progression and as a catalyst for your development - however that may manifest.
(CLICK ON THE ALBUM COVER TO LISTEN)
ONE
Everything heard in this album comes from a single source.
As I believe, that everything I do comes from a singular place.
Some people may refer to that place as the Universe, or God, or The Dao. It matters not.
Ultimately for me, there is a consciousness that is deeper and more profound than our egos will allow us to experience.
That place exists within all of us, ONE is an attempt to assist the listener in finding that place,
and what it means to them.
(CLICK ON THE ALBUM COVER TO LISTEN)
A LIFE LIVED
A Life Lived is a companion piece (or cousin piece as I'd prefer to say) to You Are ME
Everyone has their story. We should not assume we know of someone's past. only because their present is what it is. With that in mind, A Life Lived is presented.Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
(CLICK ON THE ALBUM TO LISTEN AND READ)
YOU ARE ME
YOU ARE ME, makes for the second in my "In Dreams" series; the first being Nine Years Old. Each one of pieces is based on an important dream that I have had over the last several years. Rather than communicating the dreams directly, I choose to do so through short stories.
This story is of particular importance to me, because of my relationship with nature and specifically trees.
You can read the short story here:
kentodoherty.com/text
The track titles are in Dutch, because why not?
Deux Hommages
Deux Hommages is an album dedicated to two of my favorite painters, Agnes Martin and Genevieve Asse. In viewing both of their oeuvres, a strength of conviction and an uncompromising search for a resolute truth is plain to see. I attempted to not only capture the "looks" of their respective works, but also the emotional world that they evoke. Both artist's painting would be described as minimalist, but I do not think that is correct....
They posit the question, "how much information do you need?" In boiling down a visual world to its' vital essence,
one can take the first step towards discovering what is really present in the world. The world after all being a reflection of one's own mind.Please follow the links below to view each artists works whilst listening, or before, or after....but do it....
www.wikiart.org/en/agnes-martin
www.wikiart.org/en/genevieve-asse
Nine Years Old
Nine Years Old is an album dedicated to the children whose lives are changed through no fault of their own. For this piece I chose to tell the story of Said and his family, you can find the story here:
You can choose when you read the story; before, after or during. But please read the story - the piece and the text are integral to one another.
(Click on the album cover to listen and to read the story that partners the music)
When The Ships Came
An album traveling the narrative of the Indigenous Peoples’ experience of Australia’s colonization. What began as a recurring dream of mine, demanded to be made into a piece.
(Click on the album cover to listen and to read the full short story that governs the music)
3 Drones
For me, everything in this world can be reduced down to two elements....People and Place. All the joys and sorrows. The struggles and victories, are all balanced on these two pillars. It is with this in mind that I give you, 3 Drones.
Should you desire, copy and paste the below co-ordinates into Google Maps and have a look around the scenery whilst you listen. You can pick any co-ordinate for any track.
54°18'32.6"N 9°27'33.8"W
28°04'58.8"S 134°07'09.5"E
39°53'53.0"N 140°53'20.1"E
(Click on the album cover to listen)
for stray horses
This album is comprised of music that I refer to as “atmospheres”…songs that take an emotion or event and transform them directly into sound. The music was made so that one may explore their inner reality; allowing themselves to fully realize the depths of their consciousness.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
Songs to Nowhere
I like telling stories through music. I like placing the listener in a certain place with the track’s title and then completing the story with the song. Each track on Songs to Nowhere is a story, where your imagination does the heavy visual lifting and the song tells the story. There’s some ambient, there’s some techno - all electronica.
(Click on the album cover to listen)
Periville
A deep study and portrait of a small American town. Released in May 2019, Periville, is the culmination of my years as a saxophonist and storyteller. Through exploring the people and places of this town, it was my hope to capture the depth of human expression and the ties that nourish both person and environment.
(Click here to read the liner notes)
(Click on the album cover to listen)