In the Vestibule

In the Vestibule

Promise me a cage, 
come promise me 
a compromise. 

I can feel the same. 
I can feel the same 
forever. 

I’ll feel your sure sun, 
I’ll feel the razors 
on the rise.

They can touch my face, 
they can feel the 
righteous compact. 

Keep them all insane, 
keep them coming back 
for more blood.

Lying in the rain, 
drops sputter— 
spineless drowning now.

I love the cake, 
I love the endless 
blank romance. 

I love to fade
I love the faded—
love right now

Fine things can be photographed.
Keep them all aghast, 
keep it all a laugh. 

When you find things 
keep them in your grasp. 
Until we all collapse—
all collapse.

Here in the vestibule. 
In the vestibule you choose, 
or forget.

Miter’s Theorem for Evaluating Artists and Lovers

This song is about commitment. More pointedly, it is about the challenge of long-term human relationships. The themes apply to other forms of commitment such as commitment to art, creative practice, belief, or any instance where the duality of love and suffering interplay.

Our ideals for artists are similar to our ideals for our partners: unrealistic. Reverence for artists is crafted by social narratives. The more we cling to these narratives, the more we will be disappointed by our own experiences.

Both art and love are difficult to define. My advice is to not bother defining art or love, but to accept them as the same amorphous concept.

IF art EQUALS love AND we have unrealistic or poorly defined expectations of this concept THEN when considering a friend, lover, or artist (not an individual piece of art, but an artist as a human)—ask yourself the following questions:

• What are my expectations of this individual?

• Why are my expectations of this individual unrealistic?

• Do I believe that this person can meet my unrealistic expectations?

• What are the expectations that I have for myself in this relationship?

• Do I hold myself to these expectations?

• How does my own self-worth relate to my expectations of others?

Answer these questions as you consider making Miter your new favorite artist. Also, contemplate your own self worth and what you will endure for that which you love.

Zapata Falls, Colorado

The myth of the tortured artist applies to everyone, some people just happen to be well-known artists. Perhaps artists communicate this suffering more noticeably which feeds the myth and narrative. Any relationship with another human is a struggle. The stakes of the struggle increase as we age and as we invest more.

Expectations—of ourselves and of others—can diminish success in art/love given the inevitability that these expectations will not be met. Success in love/art could be measured by endurance. Endurance and perseverance in the face of a stark reality are commendable. As long as you believe in your quest, you should pursue it—because madness lies in all directions. I prefer to lean into whatever madness causes my love and my suffering to endure.

Gear Corner

The primary instrument in this song is a Yamaha Clavinova electric piano. It makes a very nice clean piano sound. The song was written on piano and could be played by one person (for the most part) from beginning to end. But, piano is not my native instrument and it would be a challenge for me to play the song as such. After writing the primary chord progressions and riffs, I recorded them into Ableton and arranged them as you hear after several iterations.

The drums/percussion sounds primarily originate from an Arturia Drumbrute Impact which is at times run though a Mooger Fooger Ring Modulator. I’ve had this Mooger Fooger forever. It sounds great and it still works well—The LFO nob is broken, but I’ve got a foot pedal that can control it. The drums are supplemented with native Ableton Live kicks, claps and panning effects. The song is full, and has enough dynamic sway to make me feel good about the sonic quality. I played a number of guitar overdubs but ended up minimizing what ultimately stayed. I was able to get some nice sounds running my telecaster through the Mooger Fooger and the 2600, so cutting much of it required some restraint. As with writing, cutting can be just as important as adding when producing music.

Sand

Labelabel Shareholder Update

Great news, the COMPANY IS THRIVING. There are many amazingly talented folks writing, making music and sharing their work on Substack. It turns out that the best part of this journey is finding people making art and music and sharing it on the platform. It’s allowed me to pay closer attention to their work and to promote it in some small way, which is quite gratifying. I hope to continue to evolve and expand the idea in collaboration with the Labelabel Co-Presidents (could be you). I have a bunch of thoughts—but we’ll save that for later.

Here are a few highlights from Labelabel Artist:

CAULDRON INTERNATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL

All for now friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Washed Memoir. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section or by replying to the email.

Much love!

RS