The Widetrack Chronicles 48: Ideas for the New Album
During the time that Zach and I got to writing and recording songs for the fourth Widetrack album, (to be released on a one-song-per-month basis, starting tomorrow!), it quickly became apparent to me what the lyrics were going to be about...
It is 2019, and though statistics say that the world is improving in virtually every way, there is still a lot to be concerned about, as this improvement we see is never a guaranteed thing...
First off, let me just say that I know a lot of people are turned off by musicians/actors/etc. expressing their political views... I can certainly understand this...
Rest assured, I have no intention whatsoever of doing that here (although I am always open to conversations about such things if you’re ever interested in shooting me over a private message)...
Besides all that, I believe our problems actually come down to fundamental differences between people...
Differences in politics, religion, lifestyles, etc. can be navigated so long as people are committed to the big picture of doing so...
This is precisely what I see breaking down in this digital/social media age... and this is what I’ve been writing about, to try and come to grips with in my own personal way...
To my mind, some of these problems include:
-TrollIng...
-Being insulated from face-to-face, eye-to-eye interaction, from the shelter of one’s computer screen...
-The “God Complex” of having a social media platform to show all the “sheeple” how “woke”, cooler, smarter, etc. one is...
-Families, friendships, once-positive acquaintances, etc. breaking down due to negative social media interaction...
...and so on and so on...
Anyway, I’ve really come to believe that this is one of the biggest challenges we face, moving forward: these “tribes” and “echo chambers” that we are closing ourselves off into...
Is this the best path forward?
Again, this goes much deeper than politics, religion, lifestyles, etc.; it cuts directly to the core of who we are to one another as co-citizens of this world, at this particular point in human history, and the technologies it now has/soon will have, to offer...
Will we choose a zero-sum, Us vs. Them, “In order for me to win, you must also lose” reality, or will we seek to bridge the gaps between us?
I do not claim to have the answers... This is partly why I write... to seek out those answers, at least for myself...
The irony is, I do love the experience, efficiency and potential of social media... What a wonderful tool to enable us to be more connected than we ever would’ve thought possible... A “one-stop-shop” for staying in contact with friends and family, regardless of how far away they may be...
And now news and information happens closer than ever to real time, which is great... Even though, yes, there is more misinformation than ever gone viral...
A double-edged sword, to say the least...
Funny, though - it does seem ironic that, as close as social media has the potential to connect us, the flipside is that many of us feel more insulated from one another than ever…
Anyway, these are some of the ideas that are inspiring the moods and lyrics for the new songs we have written for the new album...
Your thoughts?