Vocabulary of a Dream

Lovelies,

There is a fascinating relationship between my songs and my dreams.

Let alone that songwriting and dreaming FEEL the same (subconscious thought surfacing on the wings of metaphor).

What I mean is these two worlds actually INTERACT with one another.

I've been noticing it more lately. I'll write a song and then a couple weeks later I'll have a dream that uses one of its metaphors. It's as if my dreams want so much communicate with me they choose metaphors they know I'll understand.

For example, I wrote a song with this lyric: "I know time adds water / But life gets thick and it won't rain." A couple weeks later I dreamed I was at a restaurant. I was terribly thirsty and drinking cups of water. But every cup of water had a chalky taste. My dinner companion told me that from now on, all the water I drink will carry a trace of ash. I woke up and understood: The passage of time will both dilute and bring loss.

I find this so intimate. So beautifully collaborative. That my songwriting and subconscious make contributions to a sort of dream vocabulary and then use it to speak to one another. 

But I've got to tell you something even witchier at play. I also from time to time write a song like a prophetic dream. Meaning, I write a song, and then later, sometimes years later, I'll live the experience of the song. Sometimes I'll live the ILL-ADVISED experience of the song, and it's like, wow, all the info I needed to choose well and I still did what I was going to do!

I don't actually think these songs are prophesy. I think, rather, that my songwriting has become so unabashedly attuned that I locate things in myself that may not yet even be realized — but are so true as to be inevitable.

So there you have it. This month's newsletter is none other than a highly nerdy account of my song/dream life!

If you write me back with your dreams I won't be mad at all.

All my love,

Rachel

This month has been everything I love about producing: connection to artists, synergy with my team, great songs, VARIETY. This week alone I held rehearsal for Kristin's Hall's gorgeous folk concept album, added guitars and lead vocals to four of Mira Multari's epic piano pop tracks, added synths to five of Frankie Bengtson's infectious pop songs, and added organ to David Hobbes's heady pop EP. 

I am so happy I get to spend my days creating beauty.