Hello, how are you?
Im fine. Not bad, just bored. Life is very small at the moment.
I’ve started going back to work in the last month. I feel like a lumbering, sentient Nespresso machine that takes orders and spits coffees out. It’s fine. The walks do me good too.
Where have I been? I asked myself two questions during this lockdown.
Is anything new happening in my life week to week? No.
Do I need attention enough to pretend that the first answer was yes? No.
So I stopped thinking about the newsletter, or really my existence as an entity online at all. I became very aware of the people in my online sphere who did continue and felt a great deal of empathy and sadness for many, who honestly seem like hamsters stuck on the wheel that have forgotten they can hop off for a break.
I was briefly indulging my boredom on Twitter, but after a while it stopped feeling entertaining and I started feeling like I was interacting exclusively with people’s mental illness. Like everyones stress, fears and anxieties were being projected onto their online life, obsessing over things they have no control over, and trying to control everything else. They don’t need me winding them up over silly things for my own sick entertainment, at least not right now.
Im not sure when I’ll get back on the hamster wheel myself, which means I have no plan to return to weekly newsletters. However, today I did have something to share.
I finished a new album. It’s called Horizons.
It’s the end of a trilogy in which I’ve been learning as much as I can about making music on my own. This new album ‘Horizons’ is a step up from the last one ‘Arrive’, which is exactly what I’d hoped. ‘Horizons’ is not a grand artistic statement by any means, but that wasn’t the point of it. I wanted to start and finish something that sounded relatively good, that didn’t stand out as particularly amateur, or DIY. I feel like I did that.
It’s the polished version of what my first Hahko album ‘HOPEFUL’ was attempting. Relatively chill electronic music, minimal and moody at times, made for the study session or yoga class. I don’t know if i’ll return to this sound for a while, but Im happy with what I’m leaving behind.
I’ve released it on my Bandcamp page this morning and won’t be on streaming until Nov 12th.
It’s there first because I wanted to give it to people like yourself already familiar with me first, instead of standard industry practice which is working release dates to the streaming services schedule. The album is finished, so why should you wait the same amount of time to hear it as people who have no idea who I am and *might see me randomly on their Spotify playlists? Doesn’t seem fair. I hate waiting for music from bands I like so why would I do the same thing? Plus, they’ll still see it on Spotify as a new release when it comes out, and have no idea ya’ll have had it for two weeks already.
It’s also on Bandcamp first because it allows for donations when you listen to, or download the album. Right now this is the only way to financially show your support, and any support I appreciate.
It is totally cool with me for you to take it for free, I wouldn’t give the option if i wasn’t ok with it. If you do grab it for free, could I ask you for a favour instead? Play it for a friend or family member, send it to someone you think might like it, spread the word and the album. This is just as much help to me as a couple of $$ and completely free to do.
I hope you are prioritising yourself in these times. Apply your own life jacket first before assisting others.
Listen to / buy / download ‘Horizons’ here
Talk soon
/-/.