The Insomniac's Lullaby (disquiet0350) by ikjoyce published on 2018-09-06T19:05:59Z * now released as part of a free to download / pay what you want EP https://ikjoyce.bandcamp.com/album/a-long-winters-night * This week's junto is about insomnia. I am very short on time this week, due to preparations for an exam next Friday, but the theme is one that I often expore - I have been a VERY heavy sleeper all my life, except for a few bouts of terrible insomnia back in my early 20s. I would often get up at 2 or 3 am, put headphones on and make music to try and slow the mental hamsterwheels and tire myself into sleep. The thing with deep insomnia is that the mood stays with you, long after you have recovered good sleeping habits. Even now, some 20 years later, I am still able to mine the strange mental states that I found myself in back then. (If you ever hear a drawn out, thin, high pitched warbling and shimmering sound in any of my music- that is usually a sign I am exploring that region of my past, as it is a sound that has deep associations with my insomnia - e.g. last week's Disquiet entry, which could easily function as this week's entry as well). Anyway, earlier this week I was improvising at the piano, while feeling quite tired, and the resulting piece could work well as a sort of 'lullaby' composed by an insomniac - the mind tired and wandering, working through some problem or other, reaching some sort of unsatisfactory conclusion, and then gradually shifting into sleep - but always the mind has to have one last word... More on this 350th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Selected Insomniac Works / The Assignment: Make very quiet music for very late at night for very fragile psyches) at: https://disquiet.com/0350/ More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/ Subscribe to project announcements here: http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/ Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0350-selected-insomniac-works/ There’s also a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet to join in. Image associated with this project is by Helen Cassidy, used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license: https://flic.kr/p/69oCuU https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Comment by ikjoyce @rumblin_cynth_rampo: Those chattering monkeys are a right old bore aren't they! Happily also haven't been plagued by them much for a while. 2018-10-03T13:58:13Z Comment by Rumblin_Cynth_Rampo Nice work Ian. As a periodic insomniac I could relate to your accompanying comments. Thanks fully I am not visited that often now by the chattering monkeys of disruptive thought that would destroy my sleep. 2018-10-03T10:44:44Z Comment by Ya Wha? Outstanding 2018-09-20T21:00:20Z Comment by Hypoid Very nice piece! 2018-09-17T21:41:22Z Comment by Daniel Diaz lovely 2018-09-16T16:17:07Z Comment by Robert Knote Very good improvisation! Fits very well for a lullaby I think! 2018-09-14T13:13:37Z Comment by ikjoyce The last word... 2018-09-14T10:36:26Z Comment by ikjoyce The mind's own lullaby 2018-09-14T10:35:27Z Comment by ikjoyce The conclusion is reached 2018-09-14T10:34:45Z Comment by ikjoyce More pleas for sleep... met with more questions 2018-09-14T10:33:19Z Comment by ikjoyce A gentle plea for sleep... 2018-09-14T10:32:23Z Comment by ikjoyce The mind raises a question... 2018-09-14T10:32:02Z Comment by ikjoyce Heavy tiredness... 2018-09-14T10:31:07Z Comment by ikjoyce The mind exposes the problem, and starts to work towards an (unsatisfactory) conclusion... 2018-09-14T10:30:31Z Comment by ikjoyce @disquiet: A little bit of cheating as I recorded this last week - but it does actually fit the brief so I don't feel too bad about that. 2018-09-14T10:28:13Z
