Hello blogging world, I have exciting news to share...
I've finally released another song!
After a few years of experimenting with different synths and vocal layers, I am ready to present to you my new single titled "Violet's Library." I would describe it as an ambient pop song loosely inspired by the otherworldly sounds of Enya's music and the songwriting style of Taylor Swift's folklore album.
Imagine walking into a quaint bookshop where you pick up a violet-covered book with a little bit of dust on its cover. The moment you open it, a shining portal beams out of the pages and you are transported into a mystical realm. The fantasy within a woman’s mind plays out in front of you. Fog covers the creek where she imagines meeting her old lover again and reconnecting over the future they could have shared...
As a music artist, I am particularly inspired by folk, pop and new age sounds and I admire women in music who weave these sounds together to create otherworldly songs. Singers like Enya, Aurora and Eurielle come to mind. The Celtic music artist Enya emerged in the 80s, my favorite decade of musical history because of its prolific use of dreamlike synthesizers. Enya's music has infiltrated my life ever since I was a little girl. My mom would often blast her enchanting albums from our living room speakers where my sisters and I would dance around to our hearts’ content.
When I began recording music, I challenged myself to produce a song with several vocal layers like Enya and arrange my vocals in a whimsical sort of chant. Unlike my previous productions, I made sure not to rush the project so my song could sound as effortless and refined in quality as possible. I don't like to release music for the sake of just releasing music, I prefer to release my songs when I believe they're ready and that process can take up to a few years (or more)!
A couple months prior to the release of my new song, I travelled to Scotland with my mom for a garden tour. While we were staying in Edinburgh, I had a professional music video filmed with the help of Peter Doris from Nexus Digital Media. All the footage was captured within a day which was quite a feat, considering the fact that my video would be over 5 minutes long to accompany my song and feature various scenes with different outfits and locations. It was a joy to work with Peter as he was very enthusiastic about the whole project from pre-production to post-production!
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| Peter and I filming in Roslin Glen |
If you’re a fan of the time-travel Outlander series, I discovered after filming my music video that we covered two of the show’s Scottish locations! The first spot is the Roslin Glen Gunpowder Mill featured in Season 1, Episode 9 where Jamie and his men water their horses after rescuing Claire.
The episode begins with Jamie skipping stones across the riverbank in front of the gunpowder mill. He assumes the role of a wistful storyteller lost in thought as he mulls over the strangeness of life and how the sum of the choices he makes literally becomes his life.
“Strange, the things you remember,” he says in his charming Scottish accent. “The people, the places, the moments in time burned into your heart forever while others fade into the mist.”
This location in my music video depicts the place “where Violet’s Library used to be.” My videographer and I agreed that the ruins at the gunpowder mill would be perfect for such a setting.
The second location is Bakehouse Close in Edinburgh featured in Season 3, Episode 6 when Claire travels back through the stones to find Jamie. A “close” is a Scottish term for alleyways, and Bakehouse Close was given its name because it was where the bakers and metal smiths used to live.
In my music video, I walk down the same set of stairs that lead up to Jamie’s A. Malcolm print shop. It may seem like a trivial location but those stairs are so important in the show because it's where the two main characters, Claire and Jamie, walk up to enjoy a long-anticipated reunion. Click here to watch the scene from the show! As you can see in the following picture, the handrail is covered with wooden siding to make it look more appropriate to the 1700s time period architecture.
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| Didn't find my long-lost Jamie when walking up these stairs, but I'll try again the next time I'm in Edinburgh! 💁🏻♀️ |
Regarding my wardrobe choices, I always dress up in modest, feminine dresses for my music videos. For the mystical sounds of "Violet's Library," I fully embraced my love for medieval style with my Arwen maxi dress in deadly nightshade and my Regency lace-up dress in lavender. My videographer said my outfits reminded him of the way Kate Bush has dressed in her music videos. I remember watching her video for "Wuthering Heights" a while back. She dances the way that I dance when I'm alone and listening to my favorite music, and she seems to have a very similar personality to mine so it's a compliment to be compared to her!
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| We used dry ice fog for this scene. So cool! 💜 |
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| Just me acting like Kathy pining for her Heathcliff 💔 |
I meandered through different alleyways of Edinburgh and explored Roslin Glen in my Regency dress, and I sported my Arwen dress for my dry ice fog scenes at Leith Arches. I also wore burgundy overalls with a cream-colored shirt for my bookshop scenes at Edinburgh Books because I wanted to feature a more modern-looking outfit to contrast with my old-fashioned dresses. My lyrics reflect this blending of the modern and the historical in the way I craft my letters for "Violet's Library."
At first, I was going to name my song “Dear Sean” since it repeats that greeting at the beginning of both the verses. But, I thought it would be more intriguing to name it after the unique location I envisioned, a specific library where the two lovers in my song used to meet. My videographer joked that my "Dear Sean" greeting was like the Scottish version of the American "Dear John," made famous by Nicholas Sparks's book. That comparison gave me a good laugh!
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| I enjoyed browsing through the old Scottish books and sheet music at Edinburgh Books 📚 |
Just like my music video depicts, listening to "Violet's Library" should evoke the settings of wooded glens, rustling creeks and a haze of violet-colored fog. The following is a fun checklist that I came up for properly listening to my song. 🤗
How to Create the Ideal Listening Experience for "Violet's Library"
💜 Find the most medieval-looking outfit in your closet and dress up! Royal hues are preferred, particularly deep violet.
💜 Use your eyeliner to create a soft cat eye look. Dark purple lip stain is optional.
💜 Find a darkly lit room and use a northern lights projector to cast purple rays onto the ceiling. Or, light some candles to create the mystical atmosphere.
💜 Take out your favorite books - the more old-fashioned the covers are, the better - and place them in fun little stacks all around.
💜 If you have stereo headphones, wear those to allow the surrounding synths and layered vocals to wrap around you. Stereo speakers are fine too.
💜 Think about the one that got away while you listen.
💜 Use the space around you to dance as expressively as you please!
If you enjoy my song and music video, I would love to have your support for my upcoming album! "Violet's Library" is the first single to build momentum for my debut LP called "The Lady of Arbor Hill." I plan on releasing the album in September, so any donations toward its creation are appreciated! Click here to find the campaign.
Thank you for reading about my new release! Go to my music website to download the song and keep it forever. May the fanciful storytelling of "Violet's Library" and its sounds of harps and synths transport you to an enchanted place within your imagination. 🎶
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