When is anything ever truly finished? I’m reminded of an interview with William Friedkin director of The Exorcist having just completed the “Final 30 Year Anniversary Directors Cut of Cuts” or something and he said “At some point you have to leave it and move on” He told the story of Pissarro going into the Louvre with his palette and touching up paintings hanging on the gallery wall, the security guard dragging him away.
“But it is mine to change!” wailed Pissarro “ No, no, no “ replied the guard ”Its on the wall. That means its finished”
My solo album has been finished and printed and arrived and I hold in my sticky hands a CD titled “Smile”. It’s a beautiful thing. Songs that I have written months or even years ago finally have a place in the world because they are up on iTunes and printed on a CD, that’s final. After many months of existing in my studio of recording, mixing, editing, re- recording, fixing and finally mastering they now live somewhere else. Some of the songs were from when I first started writing, some from bands I worked with. I remember when one band finished one of the members said “What a shame, those songs…nothing will happen with them” That must of stuck in my head because I kept some of them and recorded them. Others are moments in time when I just went into the studio with an idea and crafted it from there.
But is anything really finished? I still play these songs live and who knows I might re-record a song or a live version. There could be a remix or a re-master at some time.
All I can say is that “Smile” is the statement of the songs then, that is how they were recorded and mixed and created at that time, an audio snapshot of where I was with these songs, with these abilities and the ears that I currently posses. I’m still recording and still learning and still creating and all of that is moving forward and changing until I finalise it and make another snapshot. Until then ‘Smile” exists as a moment in time that I’m very, very proud of.
You can hear the album and there are some free MP3s here: http://soundcloud.com/russellleak
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