I distinctly remember having a talk about sensuality and art in school. It centered around how we as human beings experience art. Do we see it? Do we touch it? Do we taste it? Do we hear it? How can we define "art as experience" as a code of conduct. Must we always be able to see or is it how we feel. If you are trapped in a lonely dark space and all you have are your thoughts to keep you company, is that art?
Perhaps we can broaden this idea of experience and art to the feeling that resonates in us. Whether immediately after or as it brews and settles over a long period of time after.
Nick Price "Naked Souls"
I think the most interesting way of experiencing art is hearing it. Music cannot be seen, it cannot be touched. It is a concept. The wavelengths bounding off the wall and through the loudspeakers can only be understood on a scientific spectrum. We do not see, and we do not feel touch. Only bass can resound deeply within us but how do we even begin to describe that?
We do hear. And it is the most intense of all things. Hearing how sounds are mixed together draws us to a different space. Something rooted deep within us.
For me, music evokes visual iconography. I SEE things when I HEAR things. A classical symphony calls to mind a graceful ballet. A thumping bass hit makes me feel energized and ready to dance. A peaceful melody has me at a cottage or meditating in yoga class.
On Tuesday February 17, 2015, Nick Price released his EP album Wander Lost. He hosted the event at a cool venue in Toronto that was once a place of worship for buddhists. While I was hearing the sweetly tuned melody of the electro keyboard, the thick and heavy electric guitar and Nick's vast array of vocal octaves, I was taken elsewhere, outside the room. The songs made me escape in those moment and enter into others.
When I heard "Cabin Built for Two" I found myself first in an empty loft apartment in the great city of Toronto. I saw a couple, young and vibrant, looking at the space hungrily, soaking in every detail, dust particle, and crease that their home had to offer. I saw them rip open a box and string a king-sized white sheet across rope. They threw in pillows and blankets and a flashlight. As the light outside faded, their tree-fort haven lit up brilliantly. They built a space for two.
I was violently taken away from the safety of this image and thrust into the great outdoors, surrounded by intense forest noises and perhaps the rushings of a close by brook. A small log cabin stood amidst nature's encroaching branches. Two people lay outside by a dim camp fire, in sleeping bags and gazing at the stars. Their eyes shining brightly with reflections of constellations.
It was like this all night: mesmerizing and purely hypnotizing. I was taken on a guided journey. I let myself relax into the sounds and my imagination took over. All sense of time and reality stood fleetingly aside.
As Shakespeare wisely put it, "if music be the food of love, then play on. Give me excess of it" - (Twelfth Night). Music inspires those who listen.
Thank you for sharing with us your beautiful talents Nick. If you haven't heard any of these songs you are severely missing out. Just click and enjoy...
- Jenn