Meeting the Muse
Creativity is a key ingredient in any artistic recipe. For musicians, whether retooling old tunes into fresh new covers or exploring the boundaries of sound and rhythm, innovation is a crucial part of creation.
While originality is clearly integral to the process, drawing consistently from this elusive spring of inspiration is a tricky enterprise. There are the lucky few for whom creativity is like a garrulous housemate; easy to access over breakfast and always full of ideas. But for the rest of us, creativity is more like that one friend who doesn’t return phone calls, sends cryptic texts and really only connects while drinking.
Hopefully we’ve all experienced fleeting moments of incredible creative clarity. Like a herd of elephants rallying through our lives, these epiphanies come from way out on the savannahs of our minds and leave us in a dust of visionary bliss. This is clearly a holy experience, but can it be counted on as a reliable strategy? Is it safe to hope for sudden, thundering insights when your livelihood depends on being endlessly creative?
How to wrangle creativity into a predictable pen is a subject that’s been filling bookshelves for years. A common first step is to believe that we are actually creative people and then thoughtfully engage in a process to be that guy or gal. A common way to trigger our creative selves is with simple distractions such as showers. We forget about trying to be creative, engage our senses in something else and SHAZAAM, cartoon lightbulbs pop up above our head. Time outdoors, physical activity and working with others are other frequently cited sources of creative inspiration. These are great places to begin the creative quest, but ultimately, we all have to figure out what works for us.
The Lindells have spent an impressive portion of their lives hanging out with the muse and manifesting fresh new sounds. As described in our last blog, the Lindell’s music lands just beyond the boundary of a known genre and taunts listeners to classify what they're hearing. During any Lindell show, the audience is treated to a glimpse behind the curtain of their creative process with a tale of how a song came to be. From fever relieving showers and zombie ridden nightmares to contemplative walks through high country landscapes or quiet afternoons by the river, Kim and Chris value the process of creation as much as the creation itself. They’ve been able to recognize the moments in their lives that bring flashes of creativity and memorize their muse’s contact information for arranging frequent conversations.
So what do you do when looking for creative inspiration? Summer’s long days and mild temperatures invite a more expansive approach to the daily grind, an approach that allows for more meetings with the muse. We can actually take in a sunset after work or sit in a green space during lunch. Free concerts, weekend festivals and outdoor art exhibits are common this time of year and offer perfect opportunities to get those creative wheels spinning. Believe in your ability to think beyond the tabs of your usual browser and reboot your brain with something new. Let us know what you come up with!
And, if you want to see, hear and experience our brand of creativity, the Lindell’s Band will be playing at the Dolores River Brewery around 8PM on July 1st. See you there!
