Dear Joucim,
Pardon the quickness of my reply–I get Google Alerts, and while they creep me out, I feel obligated to make use of them when I can. Usually they are just signs of people pirating my music, and it’s always refreshing to receive one which is anything else. In short, I appreciate what you’ve written, and I largely agree with it. No Wonder was a transitional record, and one that has pained me to listen to ever since it was finished. At first I was a little defensive about it (the record, not your review), but enough time has passed for me to accept it for what it is. It’s a little disappointing to think that my sporadic work on it, spread over a few years (!), went toward something that people can view as a misstep, and thankfully I know enough about myself to be comfortable with its transparent calculations and its forced eclecticism. I take issue with your characterization of my influences, because they are largely wrong, but it is a minor qualm in the end. It was a “look what I can do” record, not a “look what I have to say” record. I felt that when I decided to stop making it, and I finished it with a vow to never make a record like it again. My adolescence is coming to a close, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.
That being said, I’m not sure you will ever enjoy anything that I make again. I am moving further away from the intuitive songwriting of my first record–I have grown past it for the same reasons that your review was so self-conscious. I don’t live in a world where the first record makes sense anymore. I don’t live in a small town–I don’t sentimentalize loneliness anymore. And why should I? Why should I cling to anything that doesn’t do me any good?
I played a show tonight at Silent Barn, in Ridgewood Queens. There were probably 30 people there. My friend Gabe sang with me and played some saxophone, and it felt kind of wonderful. As we finished the set I had the realization that I no longer make music to impress, or to attract. I only make music to speak my mind, and that’s all anyone can ever hope to do with any success. There’s no telling whether I will ever put out another record on a label–why bother to do anything but make what I have the capacity to make? Why fight the mechanisms which collectively make most of our work commercially obsolete? Why not abandon the pretense of marketability in order to make music which pleases me? I don’t have anything better to do.
I hope you continue to find what you are looking for, and let me know if you hear signs of life on my more recent work (either my free EP from late last year, or my free live EP from WNYC). While I don’t expect your answer to be any sort of affirmation, and it no longer makes any difference to where I am headed, I’d be interested to hear your response.
Best,
Will Stratton