Writing songs is the weirdest thing in the world. There's this mysticism to songwriting that is hard to articulate. It's kind of like waiting for your car to pass it's WOF/Rego. Those agonising minutes of waiting with a styrofoam cup in your hand and a Women's Day mag from 2002, willing your 90's Hatchback to come out the other side void of having to track down a second hand tyre and window washer blade for the next four hours.
Songwriting, and especially a songwriting retreat, is completely uncontrollable, hit or miss, steeped in expectation and often hued by failure or creative insecurity. Songs either come out needing huge repair work, or they seem to drive away with a sense of simplicity and ease, chuckling, thinking to themselves, 'oh, ye of little faith'.
Isaac is a teacher by trade, which means for our holidays we're poised to set off with half the countries population in tow. Term time he works Saturdays, I work Sundays, so regardless of his quite real fear of bumping into one of his students barefoot in the the fish n' chip shop, we try to get away most school holidays. We decided on Malua Bay, South of Batemens Bay, North of Broulee (I say this only to confirm what was eventually established after 5 minutes of toing and froing with Isaac's parents last night). And because our songwriting efforts have been mostly half hearted this year, we decided to make it a songwriting retreat.
Me // Dusk
Unlike many songwriters, I get the unusual privilege of writing with my husband. Which basically means that bunking down in a one bedroom shed on the Southern Coast of Australia is not one bit awkward. But it also means that 'creative differences' quietly ensure the necessity of all limbs perched on two opposing corners of the bed some nights #nosextonight
Isaac // Our gears
Lindt Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel - by far the best chocolate out there.
We decided we would begin our writing from a different starting point this time. More often that not we head straight down the acoustic route, starting with a chord progression with keys and guitar. This time however, we booted up ProTools, launched our Native Instrument plugins and connected all relevant instruments to our fancy Apogee console. For once we started with a grove, and it was pretty cool actually! It's amazing how much this approach completely changes the tone/sound/outcome of a song. In many ways the songs we started (they are far from complete) reflect our styles: JT, Bon Iver, RiRi and of course some Coldplay.
'Princess Of China' by Coldplay feat Rihanna is basically Isaac & I in a song.
I've been on a few writing retreats now, and I think the most important thing is to have a good balance between structured creative time and down time. Here's a bit of a basic run down of what we did, but honestly, do whatever you want!
Day One:
Arrive 2pm, set up gear. Found private beach, read two pages of a book, fell asleep. Cooked dinner and chatted.
Day Two:
7am alarm. Half hour of exercise. Tracked down best coffee in the area #fail
9-12 established/recorded a groove || 12-2 Lunch & swim || 2-6 writing lyrics/melodies over groove || 6-8 dinner and chill time || 8-10 LOWEST POINT ON TOUR (tried to find a keyboard sound, it was like a 12 year old kid playing all his latest Nokia ringtones at you for two hours straight).
Day Three:
Same as above EXCEPT included a midday swim in the rain (how romantic) and no late night keyboard disaster. Wrote/recorded 2nd track complete with V/P.C & C w ghost vocals.
Watched Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
Day Four:
Packed up, went the long way home stopping in at some amazing small towns (Milton & Berry were the absolute highlights).
Basically I say this to demystify some elements of the songwriting process. It can be relaxing, it can be rewarding, but it can be equally frustrating and fatiguing. But I came away from our sessions genuinely amazed that we had created something from nothing, that we had actually managed to add a new sound, melody, lyric to the world. Sometimes I write a song and wonder how it happened. Then I wonder if I'll ever be able to write a one again. There is something magical about the process, but you've got to be practical to uncover it. It's an incredible privilege to be able to outwork our humanity through songwriting and music, make time to let it happen.
ME // STOKED