Purple Leaves from Autumn Sketchbook by Pumpkin Friend

One interest I have in music is to do something with very tiny repeated figures or motifs that don’t go anywhere. This is an attempt to experiment with that idea.

The quick sketch was made on October 23, 2019, and along with Autumn Avenue from the same session, this is one of my favorite recordings in the collection. I like the faraway feeling of the guitar, and moody, reverb-laden singing.

Sometimes music can sound very busy to me: a demanding, insistent beat, multiple layers happening at once, lots of changes, or a flurry of notes pouring rapidly out of a classical guitar. I have enjoyed and can find value in all of these aspects of music, but for years now, something inside of me is crying out for less. To feel quieted inside, meditative, and to really stop and listen. That’s my aim for a sketch like this.

It was written and recorded very quickly, as a test: First the guitar figure, which is kind of bluesy (though I wasn’t really aware of that at the time), repeating it for as long as it felt right to do so, and then some scribbled down poetry—just what came out in that moment. Last, I sung the words over the guitar figure, just a one-take improvisation.

Originally, I thought from there I could revise the poem/lyrics and re-record it, grabbing the better parts of the improvised melody and reworking the rest. But when I tried to rewrite the lyrics or to adjust the melody, it just felt like I was creating something different. The feeling had passed, that day was over, I wasn’t honoring that moment—it wasn’t repeatable. And so I came to accept the recording’s imperfections.

I don’t even know if you can call it a song. I don’t know what to call it.

Sounds & Words. Outsider, bedroom, experimental, folk, indie, spoken word.

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