Screen Dreams

The songs that I would like to share with you today are two of my favorites from Petrichor (officially released last week). These songs happen to have been written and recorded one immediately after the other over a period of about three days, all part of my most prolific week of songwriting to date. With both tracks, I recorded most of the music before I even started to work on lyrics. That's a little different from my usual approach, but in this case, it seems to have worked. See what you think.

The first song is called Dandelion Wine (If Only...). It's about making the most of what you've got. When I wrote the song, I imagined that I was at a wedding that took place at a park and that I hardly knew anyone there--but the more I daydreamed, the more I enjoyed myself. I've never actually had dandelion wine, nor do I really even drink wine, but in my mind's eye, I was sipping it from a disposable cup, wearing a dark brown suit that blended in with the wooden wall behind me.

The second song also basically started as a music video from within the strange depths of my imagination. It's called Rat Race. For this one, I pictured an office worker in a makeshift rat costume, accompanied by lots of shots that reveal the cubicles to be set up like a maze. Meanwhile, the "experiment" is being watched over by executives and mad scientists who seem to care very little for the subjects. In terms of the aesthetic, I'm imagining the 1990s American kids' show Beakman's World. 

If anybody out there does want to make a video for any of my songs, I'd love to see it. 

In fact, as a former film student myself, I would like to offer any of my sixty-five available songs for use in student and non-profit/low-budget films. As long as the filmmakers aren't promoting hatred, bigotry, or anything of the sort, I am happy to share my music for use in motion picture soundtracks. For what it's worth, I also have hours of unreleased instrumental stuff that I've recorded over the years.

Contact me by way of this blog if you have a project for which you might like to use one of my songs. Basically, pitch the premise to me, and as long as your movie isn't promoting ignorance, intolerance or exclusion, then there is a very good chance that I will be fine with it, in which case I can even send you a high-resolution copy of the song along with a limited agreement for its use. 

Furthermore, if you know of any aspiring filmmakers who may want to use my songs in their work, please send them a link to this blog post. I would also be willing to score a film or video project with original music if offered reasonable compensation for my work. 

As always, thank you for supporting independent art. If I might be able to do the same through the use of my music, then I am more than happy to oblige.