Listen While you read
Welcome to ‘Hiwave’ - The Album - Behind the scenes. Released date 9th December 2022. Feel free to listen to the album while you enjoy reading about some of the inspo and processes that went into the making of the album, and THANK YOU for being here.
The Melbourne Lockdown Prelude..
I feel like its a little passe now to bring this up, but here goes anyway… Throughout 2020 and 2021 I worked from home in one of the most locked down cities in the world at that time. Melbourne. During that time I was working remotely as a Digital Media lecturer and course designer. The work was a good distraction from global mayhem but it was by no means an escape as the focus of my work, aside from teaching students a variety of digital media studio design practices, was holding space for their suffering. A lot of them were international students away from family dealing with sickness, isolation, loss of income loss of community, loss of freedom of movement, confusion, fear, sadness etc. It was a lot to hold but I threw myself into it as it gave me a sense of purpose during a very scary time.
Coming Home to Oneself
After two years of teaching remotely in lockdown the final semester of the year finished in October of 2021, I had myself back for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I had been so focused on helping others develop their design skills, stoking fires of creative curiosity and self-worth whilst aiming to create a sense of home and community amongst my cohort that I had almost completely forgotten what I might want or need to help me to learn and grow based on my own curiosities and urges. I had so much bottled up I needed to express but I didn’t have the words. I was so sick of words…
When I feel like this, I tend to reach for the piano. Home for me is the piano. Coming home to this is often both comforting and confronting.
Being locked in a house, and coming home to oneself are two very different things…
Sitting with myself at the piano, starting to improvise, write and shape ideas, cracks started to appear and I suddenly saw how much I had been holding back. New growth was trying to burst through. I knew a huge wave of feelings was about to surge and I had a strong sense to acknowledge, support, and prepare to celebrate the space that was opening up where previously I had been putting my feelings aside to take care of work responsibilities throughout the previous 18 months of lockdown…
Gift Giving
I wanted to reward and pleasure my soul. So I bought myself a gift. A Komplete Kontrol S88 fully weighted keyboard packaged with Native Instruments software. This was significant as none of my previous midi keyboards had a high-quality weighted feel akin to playing the piano. My feelings would often come through at the piano, but not in the same way when I turned to digital music production. I had always felt that my previous work was lacking a certain feel that I was used to experiencing at the piano. I was excited to see what I could achieve letting my body shape the way into digital production in a way I had been craving for a long time.
“Arguably, the idea of hedonistic utilitarianism, where the ethical value of things is determined from the amount of subjective pleasure or pain they cause, is dependent on the existence of qualia” - Qualia/Wikipedia
Beginning to Explore Ritual Space and Tools for creative play
It was at this point that I realised that I was potentially embarking on creating an album. Could I? Would I? This may sound trivial, but from previous experience, I know what a big commitment it is to do such a thing. so it felt huge to consider this. I was aware though that there was also a rising ground swell of raw feels so I went with it. Something I hadn’t considered doing for many years. I set a timeframe of 3 months of writing, production and mixing from November 1st 2021 - February 1st 2022, the Lunar New Year. My intention was to give myself fully to the process and work full time, but in a spacious way. Full-time open to creative process. The studio space had been refreshed and I gathered tools of the craft. I dived in.
Demos, compositions, lyrics, hooks, beats, and interesting samples all started to emerge thick and fast. In their infancy, they felt fresh and candid, raw and inspirational. This is often my favourite part of the creative design process. No real second thought to how or where things are going to end up; just pure childlike exploration and play!
As days turned into weeks I recognised the importance of needing to create a routine to help pace myself as a creative process without structure is a fast track to burnout. Been there. Done that. More than once. Not this time. Time to add some ‘adulting’ to the mix to support the child at play.
Synching Cycles of Self Enquiry With Cycles of Nature = Human-Nature Recalibration
It was at this point I realised that the structure I was craving was communion with Nature herself. I wished to merge and rediscover the beauty within me through connecting more deeply with her and integrating that union of Country into the flow states I was starting to discover in the creative process. I totally fell in love with spending time with the river on a daily basis. Side note, I grew up playing in and around creeks and rivers and through the process of making this album I rediscovered the child’s love of that within me. Playful, effervescent, curious, sensual, imaginative. Every day I worked in the studio and rounded it off by visiting the river and spending time sitting by it, exercising/swimming, listening, watching and absorbing the Qi. This Qi was then either channeled directly into evening work or saved for next day’s dawning.
Swimming upstream
Another regular practice at this time was meeting the force of the oncoming river so that I held my position in relation to the banks of the river. This practice somehow enhanced an embodied feeling of being in my centre and strengthening both my body and my resolve to meet the constant challenges of making the album. I also befriended a family of ducks that I would regularly chat with and they would sometimes swim around me. Magical stuff. :)
Who or what is the Muse?
Another point of focus was reattuning to the Ecocentric faces of the divine within the natural world. Of course, they are there, always, in a myriad of ways. Throught the making of Hiwave it’s important to note that my enquiries into the nature of self and representations of self-image were a playful process; giving myself permission to be my own muse in a relationship with Nature.
I was returning home to the understanding that anthropocentric representations of divine qualities are always just that, and nothing more. Mistaking the divine object’s aesthetic appearance for the qualities it imbues is missing the point. Another way to think about this is the difference between hearing (a biological function) and listening (a reflective process of integrating relationships between the external and the internal worlds - the heard and the felt). Listening is also a language of the heart. It is a seeking to come closer to the source of the heart’s desire. I was seeking deeply. For transcendent union. To remember and remind myself that I am an aspect of divine Nature at home with my place as part of an integrated whole.
The healing power of Noise
Noise is often seen as a bad thing. Sometimes it is, as it can mask important signals we may want or need to pay attention to. Sometimes, however, noise is the important thing we need to pay attention to, as it is largely non-discriminatory; it is chaotic. How might this be useful in practice? As my process of music production is combined with building arrangments and mixes as I go sometimes things move quite slowly and painstakingly. This requires a lot of patience as well as the introduction of more analytical and critical thinking in response to navigating increasing sonic complexity and focusing on specific instruments within specifc areas of the audio spectrum. As a result, my ears/brain can often get tired. This is where noise can act as a neural palette cleanser, especially when one really listens.
Every day I made sure to reward myself for my work, refresh myself and recalibrate my mind, body, and spirit. I was beyond adhering to a routine now - I was dropping in to a powerful rhythm of harmonising with Nature. I was starting to Hiwave
herbs + Perceptual Augmentation = Emerging Audiovisual Production Aesthetics
Another important part of my journey throughout the Hiwave music collection genesis was the methodical use of herbs. It’s important to note that digesting via a homeopathic approach (treatment based on the use of highly diluted substances, otherwise known as microdosing) was a further intentional approach to weave slow pleasure aesthetics into the creative process. I want to emphasise the point here that I was leaning into Hiwave states of consciousness responsibly and gently; intentionally and with a sense of purpose.
Additionally, consistent daily use of rose-tinted glasses significantly contributed to psychophysiological states that were being channeled into the music productions and further investigations and play on self-perception and self-image.
This is not an effort to distort the perception of reality. Merely tinting the filters through which we perceive reality. My research and development as the founder of Nurobodi also played an important role in applying Nurobodi fine-tuning practices in this way. I was in consideration of attuning to certain frequencies for influencing limbic system revision and regulation by hacking circadian rhythms as well as augmenting perceptual aesthetic awareness.
From a broader cultural standpoint, Hiwave is a process of attunement towards tapping into broader collective explorations of the qualia of nostalgia seated within internet ‘wave’ genre-aesthetics. Notably but not exclusively vibes within Chillwave, Vaporwave, Synthwave, Chillhop, Lofi, Mallsoft, LA electronica and Neo-soul and Japanese City-Pop.
Another augmentation I was playing with through the process of making the album was setting my Nixon tidal watch to local tidal patterns and paying more attention to high tide and low tide rhythms and where my creative energy was at in relation to the tides.
As the albums overall sonic aesthetics started to take shape I began developing initial iconic representations of Hiwave aesthetics. I was also aiming to visualise and utilise symbols to acknowledge and signal futurist influences I am interested in:
Parallels between inner and outer space exploration
Vulcan/Jedi philosophy/aesthetics
StarTrak (a big tip of the hat to Pharrell Williams for years and years of inspiration)
Reevaluating creative ‘currency’ as a source of change and the potential of decentralised markets and trading for sustainable energy exchanges (I could write an entire blog post on this and perhaps will at some point.)
Waving ‘Hi’ to nature/Nature
Beginning to imagine the music I was creating waving Hiwaves to people
At this point It was my idea that one of the above icons would form the basis of an album cover and began discussions with the label Heard and Felt Music, who had previously released music of mine and had expressed an interest in releasing some of the Hiwave collection. Ultimately for a few reasons, this icon work was set aside for the final Hiwave album artwork but it summed up a few underlying aspects of other influences feeding the process of the album’s emergence.
Auspicious Signs
The day I finished my final mix was the first day of the new lunar year. Mythologically speaking we had moved from the year of the Ox into the year of the Tiger. After my final swim at the river to celebrate on returning to my car and leaving the river I saw not one, but two tiger snakes! Tiger snakes are very shy creatures and its rare to see them. Their venom is highly potent so its not a good idea to get too close. In their presence, I felt close to something powerful and in synch with their wave-like movement. On seeing them, I had a real sense of closure on the creation of the Hiwave collection, and also a sense of a new beginning in dialogue with the incoming new year of the Tiger.
I took some time later that day to reflect on the Yin-Yang harmonisation pairings in Chinese astrology. Snake is usually the harmonising aspect of Dragon (my sign), and Rabbit is usually the harmonising aspect of Tiger. So to consider my relationship to the message of Tiger+Snake I need to factor Dragon+Rabbit.
Another way to think about this is, Tiger at this moment is speaking to my Dragon harmonizing aspect, Snake. So in return, I need to be in consideration of Tigers harmonizing aspect, Rabbit. Look at the Yin-Yang pairings below and you’ll see how I’m approaching this.
Tiger and Rabbit
The tiger represents bravery, while the rabbit signifies caution. If you are brave without being cautious, you create chaos. If you are cautious without taking risks, you are a coward. A combined approach can lead to informed action.
Dragon and Snake
The dragon symbolizes strength, while the snake represents flexibility. If you solely rely on strength, you will encounter self-destruction, while if you are too soft, you are easily influenced and controlled. To bring strength and softness together has always been a Chinese ancestral teaching.
Finally, the next 4 years in order are Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake. To me it seems that the above Yin-Yang harmonising themes and relationships will play a role in how I continue to support the creations of Hiwave in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The Hiwave Collection Emerges
So after 3 months of working solidly I had 18 tracks. I decided I wanted to release works from the collection in chapters and so Ennio Styles and I decided together which tracks the Heard and Felt label would want to release jointly as the first offering from me of the collection.
We decided on the following tracks which I then went ahead and had mastered with the amazing, experienced, and sensitive ears of Lachlan Carrick.
Final Album Artwork Sessions
Given that the collection was now being broken down into multiple albums I needed to revisit how I felt about an image that represented the tracks Heard and Felt would be releasing. I gathered some craft materials in preparation to meet with Ennio to finalize album artwork.
The following images are the finished version of a playful and collaborative approach to the Hiwave vibe. At one point I shaped a handful of sparkling jewels into a circle and placed my rose-tinted sunglasses onto the circle as if it were a face. Ennio laughed joyously and for me, that energy was the intention behind so much of the work. We had arrived. I took a photo and headed home to finish up on additional photoshop elements including adding an Obi-strip with album info.
Official Music Videos
Here are the official Hiwave album music videos (thus far!). Keeping a rose-tinted lens across the various vibes of the tracks was really important to me, as well as maintaining that slow, sensual feeling of being immersed in the essence of the album and all it’s intricacies.
