In a life we experience all kinds of tragedies, some more personal and others at some level of remove. In our heavily mediated, and mediatized culture we become numb to the horrors of the world served up to us in a seemingly never ending 24 hour new cycle.

Part of the reason why I make music is to help me deal with the things I hear about every day. Like many others out there, im not completely switched off yet, and the things that happen in this world are enough to drive you insane. My music is my therapy, and I write songs now more than ever to retain my sanity. Some of you are familiar with the handful of albums that I have released over the years, comprising a little over 50 songs or so, but my output is actually much much higher than that. I write songs when im sad, I write songs when im horrified, frustrated, angry, and pissed off. I write songs about being in love, and about things that move me. And i’ve decided to start sharing them in a much more immediate, unmediated fashion.

If the so-called news agencies get to litter our collective unconsciousness with a stream of negativity, and if everybody is tweeting about their latest sandwich, I feel I have enough of an excuse to start posting these amateur recordings for all to hear. Some of these might make it on an album one day. Others I might regret posting as the rush of immediacy wears of and the true song is revealed to me. I might also regret some of these ripped from the headlines songs in the future if they no longer reflect how I feel about the issues. But if Bruce Cockburn is willing to take that risk I guess I am too.

Here is the first song in my music therapy series called Gearing up for war. I post it in the hope that it has something to offer to you, and that it provides some kind of context or insight into the insanity of war.

With Love,
Andrew