Music
Beyond visual design, music has been my most enduring creative language. My earliest music memory is picking out the Madonna 45s in my parents’ collection because I knew that the Sire Records logo meant that was the “good” one. My songwriting has taken different shapes over the years, and recently I’ve been recording a collection of demo tracks in my home studio.
I grew up in the Motor City, where Motown reigned supreme. At home, Dad played Dylan, Mom played Carole King, and I played Madonna on repeat.
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Eventually I begged to take piano lessons and learned the basics on my Casio, but mostly I just played by ear. Around 12, I fell headfirst into the 90's alternative music boom that cracked my tiny world open. I started on my dad’s old beat-up acoustic, then got my first electric guitar at 13 and spent every waking non-MTV hour in my room trying to make it sound like something.
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My early taste was a chaotic teenage cocktail of classic rock, grunge, metal, and psychedelic. Luckily, some queer friends introduced me to Joni Mitchell, Prince, Bowie, Lou Reed, The Smiths, Rufus Wainwright, and The Magnetic Fields–the artists who saved me from my own angsty guitar-solo era.​
​I learned electric guitar trying to sound like David Gilmour, piano trying to sound like Tori Amos, and acoustic guitar trying to sound like Ani DiFranco. Later, I fell in love with (became obsessed with) vocal harmonies and the magical alchemy that happens when two people sing similar but different notes—thank you Beatles, Belle & Sebastian, and especially my harmony heroes: Lucius.
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So what does all that add up to? Great question! I make music by following instinct, honoring the influences, and letting the songs take shape on their own. For now I'm just enjoying the process of recording and finding joy in the creation.
My Music Journey
