Evolution in Real-Time

I am what you might call a compulsive editor. I tend to keep going back to something until I've done it one too many times, which is when I go back to the version right before that. This is how I know when it's time to walk away from a project and move onto the next. You do something enough times, you develop a system. 

If you revisit this blog, you might even notice that I do the same thing here. I'm not really a perfectionist, per se, because I don't believe in perfect -- at least not within my limited means and capabilities. I am human, after all. That said, I do like to make things as good as they can possibly be. This is the motivation behind my compulsion. 

I spent several hours this evening re-recording the vocal tracks on Plastic Flowers. It's one of my new tracks, yet to find home on an album that I didn't even know that I was writing until recently. This song is about how the American Dream changes shape over time, always adapting in the public imagination to fit the cultural context. 

Incidentally, I wrote a book about it, too, if you like nuance. That clocks in at about 80,000 words, whereas the song is about 250, plus it rhymes in certain places. Also, the book contains zero guitar solos -- but for an adapted dissertation, it is a pretty painless read. 

Original Miles has now surpassed 20,000 streams on Spotify. That is officially a waterfall. Thank you for listening and for sharing my songs. You are the amplifier.