Manners McDade Mood Music: Songs and Winter Inspiration

As Winter settles in for another year, I can feel the inevitable yearning to create emerging once again.

Although I resisted for a long time, I've come to accept that creating a new song (or album) will probably always be a slow, meticulous process for me. I need to take my time and allow the music to gently come out on its own volition. Mind you, recording with wonky, half broken tape machines doesn't really help to speed up the process.

On the rare occasions that a piece of music does seemingly spring into existence within an afternoon, I'm always reminded of how elusive, unpredictable and magical the mystery of creativity can be. Something flows through like a radio signal to a receiver and I cannot take any personal credit for the song that emerges. (I sense the cynical rolling of eyes as I type this, but there is not a more accurate way for me to describe the sensation).

So, being someone who cannot constantly and consistently make music (other than aimless noodling around on the guitar most days), I always find myself very grateful for this seasonal arrival of creativity.

I suppose that all the events and experience of the past 11 months have been being growing into fruition and are now ripe for harvesting into some new music.

The concerts, laughter, heartaches, deaths & births, lessons learnt, mistakes repeated & everything else in between - all of which came & went, no matter how permanent they seemed at the time. Another year is almost at an end! How did that happen so quickly? (I should remind myself here that "2015" is a rather narrow and empty concept within the context of infinite space we float around in). 

At this very moment I am sitting in a hostel room in Germany whilst on tour. The shows have been great fun so far, but I am very excited about getting home next weekend and diving deep into some new sonic explorations with my headphones and 8-track. 

As those terrible Christmas songs, invasive consumer adverts and tacky fairy lights bombard my senses again, I find myself grateful for year on our beautiful little planet.