It’s a Cinematic universe, okay? - 09.10.24
Right now I’m on the way back from Lyon… back, not to reality, but to Dublin.
One thing I took from my time away, was a bit of chaotic clarity. Not so long ago, during an interview chat, my interviewer described my music as ‘art within art’. She revealed to me a tendency I have, that has been afflicting me for the longest time.
As a circus artist I could never stick with any particular discipline long enough to become an expert. Learning was fun & addictive. The basics tend to come fast, & plentiful with a circus prop. You can learn a lot of low level tricks, in a short time. That feeling of new skill & knowledge rushing through your brain is unmatched! But then you hit a skill shelf, where the tricks become tough, & it takes weeks to successfully complete a new one. That’s when I would suddenly get bored of my juggling clubs, & then find the next prop to fall in love with… this cycle would continue for years, & eventually I became kinda okay at pretty much everything, but never great at one thing.
Skip ahead to today… I’ve been working on music for a while now, but all throughout that time I’ve been adding on other ventures. I learned about graphic design, about fonts, about lighting & video… I’ve learned about audio recording, I’ve learned how to make a short film, etc, etc, etcccccc…. the list goes on. This is what keeps me going creatively, & anchoring it all to music allows me to keep a veneer of consistency in the minds of my crew, & my own.
Looking ahead, into my future plans & creations… I can see my scattered ambitions pulling themselves apart. There’s a clear desire to do too many things. But ‘too many’ is only ‘too many’ if I can’t manage it all. That’s where the ‘Pennywish’ galaxy comes into place. If I can link all of my creative ambitions together into a ‘world’, & treat them as expressions of smaller pieces of a whole, then I can justify & connect them in a way that works. For instance, my songs… they can all exist in this world, should I create a comic book, there’s no reason that Nathan Mac can’t perform in that story, or have lyrics referenced… etc. If I want to start a podcast & put on a play, the characters could easily show up in the artwork for songs. My real life crew could take on characters in this world & steer the direction of future events & creativity.
Basically… it’s an ‘NCU’… the Nathan Cinematic Universe. :P
That’s what’s got me inspired to keep going. That’s what’s allowing me so much freedom in my creativity. The clothes that I wear on stage, the politics of a Solarpunk story, the magic of an animated music video… it’s all possible, it’s all probable… It’s where I’m hoping to take this art of mine.
Even this very journal is compromised…
I wanna say that I’ll never deceive. I may lie, exaggerate, & extrapolate… but it will be obvious. You will be in on the secrets. You may even play your part in the stories we tell. I’m excited to make & do with this new freedom… & I’m excited to see who else will join in on making a little world.
That’s all for this week!
I’ll chat to you soon,
N.
