From the Harbor to the Horizon: Reflecting on "Currents" at 5

July 2020 was a strange time. We were experiencing the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and all the normal summer activities (traveling, hanging out at the pool, spending time with friends) were non-existent. Like many people, I used this time to start really diving into my creative hobbies. For years, I’d been casually writing music, but I very rarely shared it with the world (I’d not put anything out since releasing Ghost Drugs and Distant Shores in 2011-2012), so the pandemic allowed me to deep dive into that unreleased music and see if any of it was worthy of a formal release. The result, Currents, was an incredible creative catalyst that spurred many albums and projects, so I thought it would be nice to look back on how it came together.

About the Music

I’ve never been quite sure whether to call Currents an album or EP. It’s only four songs, but the total runtime clocks in at nearly 27 minutes. Some streaming services automatically flag it as a single/EP, but I’ve always thought of it more as a concept album. There’s a little story told through the song titles (a journey from the harbor to the horizon), and a little musical motif appears throughout, so it feels like something more than just a random collection of songs.

• The title track, Currents, was the foundation of the entire album. I wrote this song in 2013 (and then held onto it for 7 years as part of my “don’t let anyone hear the music” strategy). It has a chill atmosphere, punctuated by some white noise that ebbs and flows, giving the whole piece a sort of underwater feeling. It slowly builds in intensity over the course of six-and-a-half minutes. There’s a moment I love around 4:25 where everything crescendos, and that little melodic build ended up being reused as a motif elsewhere. When I rediscovered this song, I was inspired to write more pieces around the theme.

• Harbor was the next song I wrote (though it acts as the album’s opener). I wanted it to feel warm and safe, like we’re close to home. I used a stratocaster guitar sample as the main instrument, underscored by a soft synth pad that rises and falls like the tide. Some additional layers add with each cycle, particularly a soft arpeggio line that mirrors the one from the track Currents.

• Adrift was an interesting track to create—it’s actually a single take improv! At the time, this wasn’t a method of composing that I relied on; everything was usually very meticulously sequenced. I was very pleased with the result, and it’s become the primary way I approach writing music now. Pay close attention to the melody around 2:00-2:05 — it mirrors the cresendo motif from Currents that I mentioned above. Thematically, this one is supposed to evoke being out to sea, surrounded by water.

• Horizon is my favorite song from the album. It starts out feeling stark, just a sound of waves/wind and some lonely whistling tones, with a lonely piano melody. Around 1:45, the familar arpeggio returns from the song Currents, and it suddenly adds a more optimistic undertone to the song. The lead from Currents also makes a return at 2:40 (and the harmony joins at 3:30), and the crescendo motif plays out one final time at 3:53. Together, all of these elements thread the tracks together in a way that feels cohesive and complete.

The Art

The cover art is a photo of Portland Head Lighthouse in Portland, Maine. We’d visited the previous summer, and I’d captured this photo of the lighthouse from below. The photo is not color edited—it was a cloudy day, but the kind where the sky has no discernible clouds, just a solid layer of gray. The contrast of the lighthouse’s black exterior against the sky made a compelling image, and I thought it was a perfect fit for this album (visually and thematically). Here’s an alternate shot of the lighthouse that didn’t make the cut:

Conclusion

I know that the COVID-19 pandemic was a bad time on many levels, but it gave me the opportunity to create this album, which kickstarted my creative output—I’ve released NINE albums, multiple singles, and written tracks for multiple compilations since—none of which might have happened if I hadn’t taken this first step to release Currents in 2020. I’ve learned a lot about music production in the past several years, and my sound has evolved a bit, but I think that Currents holds up to this day. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s available as a “name your price” download from Ampwall.

Thanks for listening,

Ed