The Ether Family Presents... A Blog
The Ether Family Presents... is a four-piece indie pop band from Atlanta, GA. Want a descriptor? How about: Equal parts X, XTC and 10CC. That fits rather nicely. But don't hold us to it.
Here, we talk about the thoughts and ideas behind our lyrics and album concepts, as well as, document our recording sessions (and maybe even the occasional live show). Be sure to follow our label/collective, Headphone Treats, on Twitter (@headphonetreats).
Recently, I’ve become a bit obsessed with the vague distinction between art and documentation. While artistic expression is a key element of writing, audio recording, filmmaking and photography, each craft is most effective when focused on capturing the thoughts, feelings, events and perspectives surrounding specific individuals, locations and points in time. Generally speaking, the intent of documentation should be prioritized over implied artistic value. Not that a work can’t be both, but artistic value is subjective and changes over time. A document either exists… or it doesn’t. 20 years down the road a photo, song, movie clip or blog post might be worthless. But then, it might also be precious to a select few. For every classic novel by Mark Twain, there are countless essays and letters of perhaps lesser importance, but which fans treasure. The documents of his thoughts and process heighten and enlighten his masterworks.
Not that I think anything we’ve done is necessarily of any importance. That’s not the point. The point is, you either capture things or you don’t. Let history sort out the rest. And when I think of things this way, suddenly it’s not so damn important to get everything perfect. No idea is so precious that it needs to lay in wait for just the right combination of circumstances. I’ve wasted a lot of time over the last 10 years worrying too much about artistic merit.
So, I’m going to try and record the things this band has done over the last 10+ years, our intentions behind it and how that has or hasn’t changed over time. And moving forward. I hope to capture bits of the process of developing new material, document the sessions and just in general try to tell our story to whoever cares to listen.
