Soundscapes of the mind: Musicians on mental health, creativity and the albums ending stigmas
There is no music venue, sticky floors and littered smoking areas included, which is as treacherous as the human mind can be. It’s a lonely place. We live a great deal of our lives internally, and feelings of happiness, sadness, love, and loss are experienced in our own heads, which can often be an isolating experience. This is especially difficult if the majority of your thoughts are negative, as not only do you feel isolated, but you also feel down.
During World Mental Health Day, it’s important to emphasise the need for people facing internal struggles, however severe or mild, to acknowledge, talk about and seek necessary help for them. Given a lot of the issues that lead to mental health problems stem from your own psyche, their resolution and the means by which people deal with them are entirely subjective; however, a universal coping tool that is commonly referred to by both those who create and consume it, is music.
This isn’t to say that a sing-song should be preferred over therapy and medication, but given that sound is already such a huge and natural part of our lives, catering it so that it resonates on a deeper level allows us to feel understood and comforted. A lot of people are confused by the music industry, perplexed at why people invest so much money, time and effort into the production of sound, but when you understand the more profound implications that music can have and how it can positively impact artists and fans alike, the passion put into decades of it is wholly justified.
There is a science behind the feeling you get when you hear a song and think, “Finally, someone who gets it!” When it feels like a musician is speaking directly to you, it’s often because they are… in their own way. An innate bond is formed between the artist and the listener when both are willing to be vulnerable. An artist can articulate how they feel, a listener can have their feelings acknowledged, and both share in a communitive moment that allows for healing as a result.
In his book, What’s Love Got to Do with It?: Emotions and Relationships in Popular Songs, Thomas J Scheff discusses how personal love songs often feel. “In [many] years of teaching college students, I couldn’t help but notice that for many of them, popular songs held a special meaning, as they did to me when I was their age,” he said, “Popular love lyrics present a picture of an imagined social-emotional world, and modern societies tend to ignore this world. Since modern societies are highly individualistic, the nature of relationships usually takes a backseat. Modern societies focus on the self-reliant individual.”
In other words, when you listen to a love song, all of the complicated emotions that you’ve been experiencing but struggling to articulate are suddenly acknowledged. Not only that but they’re acknowledged in a beautiful way that makes you excited about approaching them rather than trepidatious. This feeling isn’t exclusive to love either; when you are sad, angry, lonely, or scared, if a song acknowledges those feelings, it feels like you are seen and understood.
The same thing applies to the artist. If they are feeling a particular way, by writing about it and expressing their emotions, there is a release. Pair that with the fact that their work is then listened to by others who equally connect with it, and you have a source of comfort that could be difficult to find in other aspects of everyday life.
Artists frequently use their art to express how they feel and seek comfort. Over the last year at Far Out, we’ve had the pleasure of talking to some of music’s most creative, open and honest minds, who have been upfront about the inspiration behind their music and how it has helped them. Here are some of our favourites:
The relationship between music and mental health
Leo Wyndham, Palace
“I find it hard to put emotional experiences into words, but when I pick up a guitar and write lyrics, it just flows very freely.”
On the album Ultrasound, Leo Wyndham uses 12 tracks as a means to talk about the internal struggles that he faced after his wife suffered a miscarriage. The album is poignant, a testament to how music can be used to articulate feelings and come to terms with grief. Moving is an understatement.
Though the grief was still present, Wyndham did feel comfort when writing and the album helped him process emotions that otherwise might have gone unaddressed. He said playing the album live felt like “Strange closure,” describing it as “A little gift from the gods”.
Sophie May
“I think when I was writing, it actually felt like a sigh of relief.”
The power of music comes from the fact that something you previously weren’t acknowledging is finally acknowledged. Sophie May always found it frustrating that nobody spoke about OCD and intrusive thoughts, particularly in music, so she decided to write about it herself. The result is wonderful and honest, and something that many people have managed to subsequently connect with.
“I always kind of think anxiety and depression in the media are sometimes quite sexy,” she said when discussing the lack of representation for intrusive thoughts, both in art and society, “A lot of being sad is quite sexy, but then with intrusive thoughts, it’s not […] We encourage people to talk when they feel alone, but as soon as you try to talk about OCD, people are like ‘Nope, not that’.”
Jack Jones
“It’s so strange. You share a little bit about something that’s happened, and you find you’re not so alone.”
Jack Jones’ recent self-titled album doesn’t have one particular theme but explores several aspects of self-discovery. No stone is left unturned, as various parts of Jones’ mind are displayed throughout the record, and his lyricism makes it easy to connect with the poignant messages he discusses.
The album sees Jones touch upon themes of getting sober, British life, and the problems he faces in his mind. The listener is invited inside, and the openness on display makes for a particularly touching listen. He openly espouses battles with panic attacks, and by getting them in the open, they suddenly feel less stigmatised and threatening.
Adrian ‘Tricky’ Thaws
“If I could figure out which album helped people the most, I’d say that was the one I’m most proud of.”
Adrian ‘Tricky’ Thaws has a slightly different approach to mental health. When he was struggling following the passing of his daughter, rather than music, he turned to more conventional methods of healing. “If you need medication, go for medication,” he said, “Also, if you’ve got depression, you can’t be fucking around with weed, and you can’t be fucking around with alcohol […] You need to stop. You need to exercise, and you need to eat right.”
That being said, as a former member of Wild Bunch and Massive Attack, he is no stranger to having his work reach a lot of people. He loves that people have connected with the band’s music and that it helps them through hard times. He attests that the album that has helped the most people is his favourite album, regardless of sales and popularity.
Shana Cleveland, La Luz
“I felt like I had come through something that was so difficult, and I was here and ready to dive into that darkness without fear.”
Cancer is one of the most common diseases in the world, and yet it remains impossible to prepare yourself for the news of receiving it or working out how to process the complex array of emotions that come with a diagnosis. Anger, fear, and sorrow all bubble up, and it’s difficult to understand where to go from there. Shana Cleveland had this issue when she was diagnosed, but she made sense of a lot of her emotions when writing the album News of the Universe with her band La Luz.
Now, when she listens to the album, specifically on songs like ‘Poppies’, she can hear the confusion and trepidation in her voice, but also feels herself growing stronger, coming to terms with such difficult news. “I can hear where I was at,” she said, “Which was a moment of real openness and vulnerability, but also very powerful.”
Bill Ryder-Jones
“I consciously wanted to pick the best parts of myself and somehow try and squeeze them together. And I think I’ve gotten away with it.”
Bill Ryder-Jones has worked on a range of exciting music, but his solo work is where we see the musician at his most vulnerable. On the album Iechyd Da, we get a glimpse into how music can well and truly improve things and assist with whatever battles people may be going through.
The album touches upon a number of themes, but one of the most poignant is Jones’s dealing with losing his brother at nine years old. Emotions are laid bare, fans are given more profound insight into Jones as a human being, and those who have also suffered the loss of a loved one find something to relate to.
Keaton Henson
“There’s a quote I read about how when you’ve mined yourself for emotion or created something quite guttural, you only have two choices. You either come up and exist on the surface for a bit, or you end up having to keep digging.”
Keaton Henson finds solace in instrumental music. While he has written about his emotions with lyrics before, he gives himself time to recover and regain his thoughts when he writes instrumental music. It’s a serene escape that’s a joy to listen to.
“The more time you spend in the mine of yourself, the more of your life you lose,” he said, “The longer you spend digging around for sadness to use, the more good days like this you miss out on, when you’re sat in the garden, and everything is nice.”
