Sparks for Springtime

A book, an album and paintings inspired by the Songlines.

Here are three sparks I’m lit up by right now. I’m feeling a new desire for reading and listening to music and looking at art. I go through long seasons of not feeling like any of those things, to be honest. I can get quite embarrassed when people ask what new music I’m listening to… I often have nothing and instead just tell them I’m in an ambient drone season.

But lately I’ve been greedily digesting the culture again. In the last Koru meet up we discussed the idea of all bringing along a favourite song for the whole group to listen in real time, then we could talk about each song afterwards! That could be a cool idea…

Anyway, let me jump onto these springboards for you!

#1 —— “The Book of Alchemy” Suleika Jaouad

The wonderful and beautiful Suleika Jaouad (writes The Isolation Journals) just put out a new book called “The Book of Alchemy” and can you believe it, she asked if she could use a version of the essay I first published here on Substack called To No Applause. I was really honoured and I’m also kinda freaking out that my writing is in a book alongside Alain De Botton (ummmmm one of my all time favs), Lena Dunham, Salman Rushdie and so many more. This book is beautiful and acts as a guide through journalling which has been Suleika’s best friend and confidant throughout her cancer journey. I have religiously journaled since the age of about 12. I’ve honestly never missed more than a few days. Quite crazy now that I write that out loud.

Suleika is a truly inspiring woman and writer and I can’t think of a better book to recommend right now. Inspire yourself for the springtime and buy the book here or at any of your independent bookshops.

Grab your copy now!

#2 —— “This Ain’t The Way You Go Out” by Lucy Rose

This album came out last year. I heard the single Could You Help Me first and was so drawn to her melodic instincts. The production is sophisticated and the songwriting is great too. At times she reminds me a little of Amanda Bergman from a band I love called Amason. I recommend checking them out if you want to go down another rabbit hole after listening to Lucy Rose.

There’s just enough experimenting in this record to move it away from feeling like a clean, polished, jazz record (gross)and it’s in the tight broken, dry drum approach (the drummer is great) matched with the warmth of the piano. Some gorgeous backing vocal arrangements too. This whole record really grooves too. That’s crucial.

I feel like every track has just the right amount of decoration. It feels wide and full but they never seem to stuff the songs too unnecessarily—which is so easy to do. I’m no angel there, density has been my lover too…

Top tracks: Could You Help Me, Life’s Too Short

Tell me what you think of this record when you’ve spent some time with it!

#3 —— Paintings of the SongLines

Yarrkalpa (Hunting Ground), 2013 by Ngamaru Bidu, Yikartu Bumba, Kumpaya Girgirba, Thelma Judson, Yuwali Janice Nixon, Reena Rogers, Kanu Nancy Taylor, and Ngalangka Nola Taylor, Martumili Artists

I was at my friend Hana’s house once and saw she had a magazine on the coffee table called Emergence. Not only was it beautiful to look at but it focused on two areas I have a great passion and interest for. Ecology and Spirituality. They also create beautiful films and spotlight stories and various visual artists on their site.

As some of you might remember I talked about the Songlines by the Aboriginal peple of Australia in this past post. Ever since being told about this incredible technology of communication, I think about it all the time.

This week Emergence is featuring ten paintings from an Aboriginal-led exhibition. They’re incredible artworks outlining the Dreaming track of the Seven Sisters songline. The Aboriginals carried these individual songs across the landscapes in order to carry knowledge of the land and their culture to other tribes. I highly recommend going deeper into all that Emergence offers both in their newsletter and their film content but as a starting point, get lost in these incredible images.

Go on, tell me what sparks and speaks to you.

Till next time,