In this monthly series I share selections of what I have been listening to, reading, watching or exploring. Notably, what ignited me with inspiration and what feels worth sharing.
You may find brief notes from me here and there, but these posts are primarily logs of music albums, songs, books, articles and arts.
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Heave-Haven (1986) was written by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) during the early period of his religious transformation and shortly before he joined the Jesuits.
Anthropology, Mythology, Psychoanalysis, Poetry
Robert Blyde (1926 -2021) in his book Iron John writes that each of needs a Heaven-Haven, or as he put it a “Walled Garden”:
A marked-out place of isolation and separation from the world where we can cultivate our precious plants and flowers.
“Entering the garden, we escape from the rain of blows offered by the world and find a temporary shelter.”
With the metaphor of a “walled garden”, Blyde refers the essential importance for a carved-out, bounded and protected space and time, in which to cultivate the practices and relationships that unify and reconcile the wild and the civilised.
“A nun’s cloister, a meditation room, a deep well, a niche for god, a relationship in which we intend to cultivate a holy tree, a closed tomb, the lover’s room, the philosopher’s study, the alchemist’s vessel. These are all hermetic containers.”
For Robert Bly, an integrated man is one who has descended, grieved, accepted limits, and then cultivated his gifts, so the innate wild man’s energy can serve love, work, and community rather than chaos.
Psychoanalysis, Child-Development
Where Blyde’s ‘garden’ refers to the need for guided initiation, eldering and patient cultivation. Donald Winnicot (1896-1971) famously argued that the emotional growth of every human being is rooted in “good-enough” caregiving during early formative years in childhood.
His concept of a “Holding Environment”, refers to the steady, reliable presence of an attuned caregiver who consistently meets the child’s physical and emotional needs, mirrors and contains their feelings without intrusion, and offers a safe base from which the child can freely explore and return, gradually integrating a resilient sense of self.
Winnicot also argued that society’s democratic health ultimately “derives from the working of the ordinary good home.” Over the course of studying Winnicot, I have integrated a range of these and related teachings into understanding the therapeutic qualities and use of music.
Video-Painting
I increasingly find myself reflecting on the therapeutic significance of Beauty. Especially the vast and pure beauty of wild nature.
Video Paintings are single-framed, un-moved, long-form video-field-recordings I have been shooting for quite some years by now. They continue to live upon my own private garden walls, as a visual ambient works.
Contemporary, Piano, Atmospheric
This work offers a wonderful palette of tender piano-based explorations, gracefully intertwined with equally elegant electronic atmospheres. Julia Gjertsen’s work is deep and contemplative, and yet feels warm, welcoming and liberating.
Ambient, Minimal
Potentially this is one of my favourite new ambient discoveries this past month. This album presents music that are quiet but rich and very sophisticated.
Ambient, Minimal
A meditation on time, intimacy, and impermanence. A lovely tapestry of piano, analogue electronics and silence.
Contemporary, Drone, Clarinet, Improvisation
Delicate clarinet improvisations embedded within soft grounding of drones, creating landscapes that feel dreamy and simultaneously vital
Grime, Hiphop, Electronic, Dubstep
Some more intense music coming up here, in contrast.
This duo from Bristol (UK) is offering us one big creative fusion of grime, dubstep, and experimental hip-hop. Raw and playful, intense and pretty unique and awesome.
Doom Metal
I returned to this doom metal masterpiece that is based on Moby-Dick. Oceanic, mournful and cathartic, this is journey is both violent and sublime. And very well produced.
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