For most of 2021, I’ve felt like I was in some sort of writing rut. I didn’t write an essay for my newsletter on January 21, the first time I skipped a newsletter since September. The ideas just failed to come to me, I wondered if the well of writing had run dry — that I’d exhausted all of the things that I could possibly say with my limited range of experience.

I used to read a lot of fantasy books and would love to get lost in the lore. I loved to learn about the edges of each world, just beyond the main story. Like yes, I would love to learn more about the random village hundreds of miles away from the objective of this book. Books with maps like the Inheritance series or the Merlin Saga were a delight! I would love flipping to the map just to trace out the journey of the characters, and try to figure out where they would go next.

This weekend, KT and I spent some time just vibing in Ableton, thanks to their extended free trial for the time of COVID-19. With the software and a MIDI keyboard borrowed from the ever-gracious AIR APPARENT (my much more musical brother), we were ready to BUILD. We focused on recreating some songs from scratch: first MGMT’s “Electric Feel” and Ivy Lab’s “Jet Lag.” Being able to learn how to use the tools without having to also generate new tunes made the big scary app seem more accessible.