September Newsletter: Building a Bridge

I’ve lost count of the number of LPs released under the Car Seat Headrest name. It is a blessing to be able to produce, but making art has never changed or saved my life. Consuming art by others has changed my life, creating a bridge that spans the gulf between others and myself. Making music of my own has been more of a nervous tic for me, a way of turning uncomfortable feelings into an object of merit. I hoped that my songs would help others recognize things in me I was otherwise unable to express. However, the process of creating, finalizing, releasing and promoting always left me feeling empty and dissatisfied. Until I reassessed my deeper motivations, I felt constantly on the brink of quitting the album business altogether.

My perspective was flawed. Art builds a bridge, but it is a one-way bridge. To reach back to you, people construct their own bridges, however they know how, artistically or otherwise. A heartfelt thanks, a compliment, applause after a song. All of this is meaningful, if it is seen for what it is, a pathway to the heart. We are surrounded by these smaller and subtler bridges, and they are just as important as the big ones.

The biggest danger in artistic pursuit is that it blinds one to the gentler lights of these smaller bridges. Burnout happens when the “voice of the muse” turns into the only voice you accept as valid. Creative instinct, when overindulged, becomes a voice of judgement forcefully lodged within you, preventing you from enjoying anything. Work to dislodge it, and it returns to its proper place - a tool that makes all tasks in front of you a bit more fun. Everything is a creative endeavor, if you can adjust your eyes to it.

Encountering younger artists, I see some of them self-conscious of their relative lack of output; I see others putting stuff out to the same cycle of dissatisfaction I’ve encountered. To all of them, I say, don’t worry about the big bridges, worry about the little ones. Don’t get hung up on the particular work of art you’re unable to complete, and overlook the works you do for the world every day. The world of the big artistic project may be an enticing one, but ultimately, you always return to this world in order to deliver it. It is the connections made here that count, regardless of the form.