New Article - I Swear I Heard This...

I am really happy to have a written piece included in the Popular Music Studies journal Riffs. This is now Volume 8, Issue 2 of the journal, and the title of the issue (and all the pieces inside) is..I Swear I Heard This.

The issue returns to the origins of Riffs and revives The Write Club format. Written on one wintery afternoon in Birmingham (UK), these short pieces began with the prompt “I swear I heard this…”, recounting a musical event or encounter that might be described as untoward, unforeseen, mysterious, or inexplicable – a happening that might invite disbelief from someone when they hear you talk about it later. The editors invite you to “Suspend your scepticism as the contributors explore fractured moments, fortuitous alignments, and unusual echoes.”

I really enjoyed the process of writing my piece - sat in silence with the other contributors in a Zoom meeting, with the clock ticking. Faced with the prompt, my mind went to the process of making music and - more broadly - to a reflection on process. I have found in recent years that I find joy in the act of creating, but less so in the finished product; I promptly lose interest once the effort of creating comes to an end. This piece was a reflection on the realisation, and a call (to myself, but also others) to find joy in process. It is, after all, through following this that we arrive at the end of a project.

It’s nice to see the piece in print, even if I enjoyed writing it more than I do reading it. There’s that love of process again…

If you’d like to download a PDF of the entire issue you can find that here.

More information on the issues and the other pieces can be found on the Riffs website.

An individual PDF of my article is here.