Shinybass Journal Entry 08/11/25

Just finish it. 

I recently completed a great book by Stephanie Storey titled Oil and Marble; a fictional novel that checks all of my boxes. The novel is set in Florence, Italy, and details the interactions between the Masters of the day, encompassing the passion, artistry, competition, and the economic ebbs and flows of being an artist. There’s wine, art, history, lots of Italians, and even flight. I was sold. 

The notion of luminaries interacting is interesting, to feel their struggle is divine. This book captures the struggle of Michelangelo creating the statue of David in the same timeframe of Da Vinci painting his forbidden love Mona Lisa. There is a strong bout of one-upmanship between the elder Da Vinci and the talented but rough Michelangelo, and lessons learned by both along the way in this brief look into their lives. 

I love history because we are doomed to repeat it. I’d like to think we learn from our successes and mistakes, however, that doesn’t always happen. We can hopefully let some things guide our attitudes, and maybe that will help. I really liked some of the takeaways from this book, and maybe they can help you as well. (You should still read the book, though.)

First: Art is never completed, it is only abandoned. This quote was credited to Leonardo Da Vinci. As musicians we live this. Is the record done? Hell, we could track and remix one song forever. So what do we do? We continue to make more art. We (hopefully) keep getting better. If we don’t stop, the art doesn’t stop. 

Second: No matter how hard things get, the art shouldn’t stop. All artists, no matter how they are remembered, have hardships. I create music and write words, so at its core, I am an artist (and only mentioning my name in the same breath as these two masters because this is my blog.) I am living the struggle daily. We are all dealt cards, and some of the cards are unwanted and downright awful. That’s no reason to stop. It’s reason to work harder. 

My connection with the book is real although I am not creating masterpieces over here. I am just creating. During lockdown, I woke up very early every day for a month and composed music from 4:30-6AM. The songs from those sessions ultimately became my first ‘solo’ record, released under the pseudonym Alex St. James. I was trying loops, synths, and a bunch of sounds and approaches that were uncomfortable to my musical norms. My goal was to just create something to help people sleep. It was released to little acclaim. 

4 years after its release, someone used one of the songs in a TikTok video (yet unseen by me), and the track was heard in over 90 countries and over 1,000,000 times. Considering the record’s humble origin, that’s kinda crazy to me. 

Over the next year or so, I started on the next one, and in the middle of it all, my wife became sick. We were not thinking the worst at all, and with kids in school, we tried to maintain as normal a life as we could. I still made music as my personal release/hobby (as I came off the road and couldn’t explore your towns anymore). I had hard moments trying to do something new and creative; I was trying anything as a distraction to reality. Some days it didn’t work at all. Some nights I would leave the hospital and come home and try and distance myself from real life with music. 

Sadly and tragically my wife passed, and the project took a back seat to everything. After some time, the music was revisited, and tracks were completed and sent off for mixing. When the final tracks came back to me, there was a sense of sadness and relief, as she heard me working on these songs, but not to the point of completion. The songs were made sonically rich by the talents of my good friend Ben Jackson, who made these songs what they were initially meant to be: a beautiful escape. 

So in July I released another record of instrumental tracks. In a world of easily accessible samples and loops, I understand that chill/vibe stuff can feel ‘canned’. I played the parts (Ben played some great drum parts and some guitar was performed by Brian Fechino), and wanted to keep pushing myself to new places. I think I got there, with more pianos and ‘real’ instruments. 

The album is titled ‘Crawl to Fly’ (with the album art once again supplied by my oldest son), and I’m pretty happy with the initial reception. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with ads and people wanting your time and money, I want neither. My goal is that one or more songs are calmly playing in the background of your day, taking neither time nor space. If you find a moment within the music you can relate to, my job is done. 

A lot of my friends don’t know the record is out, which is OK as well. I am more than happy to talk to each of you in turn if you’ll give one track a listen. It’s part of my journey as well. For those scoring at home, the album is called ‘Crawl to Fly’ by Alex St. James, which am us. 

Back to art and life. You may not be an artist, per se, but if you create anything, this is better than consumption. We need more creators out there. In here. Everywhere. We don’t need to take so much, we need to create. Maybe there is a Sistine Chapel part II (Electric Boogaloo) waiting to show itself. We don’t know until we sit down and start to mix our paints and get vision. 

After you finish a record, in theory, we keep moving forward and start on the next. After my wife passed, I started writing again, and most of the music I was recording  was awful. I knew it would be. My insides were a mess, and I was being pulled from all directions. When you have a baby, you experience a love you never knew existed. Conversely, when you lose someone so close to you, you feel a pain in your body you never knew could hurt so badly. All emotions directly effect art. If you keep channeling, the light will show itself. 

I still hurt, however, I am finding my way into a musical place that I am happy with again. I am thankful for every day I get to pick up an instrument and play. There is no greater feeling. 

So, yes, blah, blah, blah, the record is out, and I’d love for you to hear it. (Promotion is such a pain…) and if you want to talk (about the record or maybe your personal creative roadblocks), I’m here. Thanks to everyone involved with making this record a reality, and thank you to the writers out there who inspire us to keep our art moving forward…through art? May the circle be unbroken…

See you on Tidal!