Today I heard the phrase ‘mental hygiene’ for the first time, to describe an issue I’ve long been pondering: Many of us have spent most of our lives taking care not to expose our bodies to poison and pollution, and some of us try to protect the natural environment similarly. But how many of us limit or filter what our minds and senses are exposed to? We live in an age of information and content overload; audial, visual and ideological pollution surrounds us and we open ourselves to it during every waking moment, especially in the post-social media age.
As a musical composer, this has posed more and more of a problem as the years go by. To write music or lyrics you need time free from distractions, from pollution. You need plenty of time with no mental stimulation other than that of nature; time without screens, time where every silence isn’t filled with music (even of the good sort) or podcasts. And those who don’t compose music need this type of respite too.
So another of the battles in the making of this album is the fight for mental hygiene. I’m winning, but slowly. The first demo song has been completed and sets the tone for the next songs to come. My as-yet-unannounced producer tells me the song sounds ‘more intimate’, which may be true. I’m conscious of allowing more intimacy come through in writing this next album, both lyrically and perhaps in the performances. I suppose this journal signifies that also.