Batteries from Memory
…a Letter to YVYNYL
Andrew Reynolds wrote me a few weeks ago with a bit about his lonesome music. His songs from two recent collections are easy, and deep, and fill a certain void that a lot of us feel during quiet winter nights. Luckily, he’s got someone to talk to, and some beautiful songs to keep him burning.
Hi Mark,
A quick story about me: I love making music, and even more than that, I love listening to music. It started with my first cassette tape in maybe 1992 (The Beatles I recall), followed in 1993 by a surprise gift from my parents; Nirvana’s “In Utero”. I was living out east in Ontario as a kid growing up, but then my parents split, and half of us moved out West. I still miss it out there, but I think this must be home now. Music certainly helped me with this kind of terrible time, and I think that it stopped me from feeling too alone or isolated, no matter how alone or isolated I was.
I had a connection through my old brother to what I considered “cool” music. At that time, after the childhood thing with Nirvana (although I still feel obsessed with them), I moved into Pacific Northwest sad sac bands like Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Lync, and stuff like that. I remember in high school, I borrowed my older brothers ID to sneak into a Modest Mouse show (they were touring Lonesome Crowded West at the time!), and it was incredible. I remember walking home listening to them on my Walkman (the yellow one with the two headphone jacks that I think was waterproof?), and feeling like screaming because I felt something really real; and music was that thing.
I mean, I think some people just genuinely connect with it, and some people don’t. I sometimes think that my life might have been more simple if I had not become so wholly invested in something so weird and introverted. Maybe I would be married and have kids now, instead of recording my 100th record on a 4 track in my moms basement while she’s at work (and without telling her). Funny thing about that actually; I noticed that SHE noticed that I had set up a small studio in some basement backroom, and she started taping up articles about Neil Young and pictures of cute Daschunds as motivation (and it IS motivating).
I dream about being Neil Young, but not actually copying him.
Being in that position in LA in the 1970's and the sun, and the music, and the analog studios, and the real record labels putting out vinyl. It seems so crazy to be alive back then, but I wonder if it just felt like it does now, then? Does that make sense. I don’t know, but music is such a crazy thing, because it spans time unlike anything else.
The other thing I think about a lot in regards to music, is how fun it is to discover something new. For true music fans, this search, this feeling of something new, never gets old. Sometimes I do get “bored” of the same albums I have heard hundreds of times, but then, when I find something new, I completely, and embarrassingly, become obsessed. I sometimes feel like screaming like I did walking home from Modest Mouse live at a bar (now out of business), and how excited I felt. I’m getting older. I still haven’t completed what I want to complete.
I don’t have kids. I haven’t been to Japan. But music is keeping me happy, and super excited about the future. How great is that though. I hope other people feel the same way. Music gives us hope, and it has for me for over 20 years. I hope that the music I make is important to someone, and thats all I can hope for. I made this album in the spirit of all the albums I have made in the past, and all of the albums I’ve listened to in the past.
A lot of these images are of my girlfriend Julie, and she is sort of the 2nd member of my band. She helps me write songs and record, and fine tune things. I really like the idea of making her part of my music, and helping me represent myself out in the world. For some reason, I see her when I record, and so the songs are often inspired by her. Thank you again by the way, for not just taking the time to help me out and promote my music, but also to help so many other people. It’s a pretty great thing that you’re doing, and I can’t thank you enough!
Thank you, and thanks for reading this. The record is called “From, Memory” and was released September 19th, 2014. Here is an album stream.
Andrew
To listen to more, to read more, to live life more, to be more…
Please feel free to check out more Letters to YVYNYL, an ongoing series of personal notes about life, love and the magical power of music.
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