Slowing Down

I am particularly enjoying the new Air album. After Moon Safari and the excellent soundtrack to Virgin Suicides they had rather lost their way, to the point where I questioned if they still had any ideas left. But the new one ‘Pocket Symphony’ is a great return to form. The track Mer Du Japon is one that I am particularly enjoying.

It is rare that bands or individuals who produce great albums very early on are able to sustain it. This to me is actually less to do with their own lack of creativity and more due to the demands of record labels who want more ‘product’ – usually identical to the last one. So they are immediately under pressure to have something to say even when they have nothing to say. The creative process is, for the most part, not a switch that can be flicked on when needed. I read a good interview with Scott Engel (Walker) of Walker Brothers fame. He produces an album every decade with fascinating results. He said this in a recent Sunday Times article about how the creative process works for him:

‘I sit and wait. It takes a lot of silence until the right line will come. I have to wait until something comes that I don’t expect, something that surprises me but that I know is right. Or maybe I am just really slow!’

In his book ‘A whack on the side of the head’ creative writer Roger Von Oech came up with the great line:

‘Slow down, or nothing worthwhile will ever catch up with you’.

For me it is the deadline that lubricates the creative process. But I also have a different speed. I make a point of writing up many of my random thoughts even if they have no apparent significance at the time. It is amazing how often I refer back to my jottings and how useful they become when I need creative inspiration. Don’t get it right, get it written.