Image: Screenshot

The video starts with Madonna’s voice saying –

‘Economic markets are collapsing. People all over the world are suffering and people are afraid. And what happens when people are afraid? They become intolerant’

We’re led into two worlds – the world of the incredible baroque dancers that Madonna shoots with a silver gun (a gun which apparently represents branding), and the world where Madonna is oppressed in a prison, incarcerated for having a point of view. This short film was aimed to help launch Art For Freedom, an online global initiative to facilitate free expression, and was created by Madonna, curated by VICE, and distributed by BitTorrent. On the Art For Freedom website, visitors are welcome to share their videos, music, poetry, and other visual art with the world. Madonna hopes that this will fuel free speech, saying ‘it is an online public art project encouraging the world to express their personal meaning of freedom and revolution’. In January 2014, Katy Perry became a guest curator of the project.

Katy Perry and Madonna with Steven Klein

It has to be said that Madonna is famous for re-inventing herself – and indeed, the question arises as to whether this project is yet another reinvention or advocacy project. Perhaps it’s a bit of both. Regardless, the message is strong: we all deserve love, and it asks us to stop and think during a time when our world is torn apart by intolerance and fear.

When you have some time, during your lunch break today or while surfing the internet before bed tonight, take a moment to watch the 17-minute masterpiece above.

What are your thoughts about Madonna’s initiative? Is it just a clever branding scheme or do you believe it aims to create positive change? Feel free to tweet us @onesmallseedSA or leave a comment below.

Words Gosia Podgórska

Image: Screenshot

Image: Screenshot

Image: Field Report

You have a degree in journalism. Has journalistic writing influenced the way you write music?

I think a general awareness of the purpose of journalism — which ultimately is the reduction of uncertainty — can be a good starting point for songwriting. It makes you more aware of who/what/where/when/why, but the big difference between songwriting and journalism is objectivity. As a newsperson, you are supposed to keep yourself out of the story and only serve the readers and truth.

As a songwriter, you are living in every line and you can withhold information about a character or scene. You can make things up. You can lie in service to a greater Truth.

Both require triangulation, but in different ways. Journalists require multiple sources and points of view to direct the reader to the facts. Triangulation in songwriting is more like dropping breadcrumbs so the listener can have little bits of information to hang onto like a railing, until their eyes adjust to a dark room.
 

What made you decide to start writing songs? Did you have any 
experience writing lyrics while in DeYarmond Edison?

I didn’t really write songs until after DeYarmond. I would occasionally help Justin with lyrics if he asked for it, but those songs were all his. I think my songwriting came out of the void that had been filled by writing and playing music. I ended up in a career outside of journalism, and I was no longer playing music with anyone. I was in a new city, and a new chapter of my life. Songs started coming out of that.
 

Folk music has been around for a long time. What do you think is 
the difference lyrically and musically between being a 2013 folk
artist and a 1960s for 70s folk musician?

I don’t know that all that much has changed. The 1960s was a period when folk music in the context of popular culture became more personal and confessional. The same remains today. Also, folk music then and now tends to favor traditional instrumentation. Not a whole lot is different. ‘Folk’ as a designation can have some baggage with it. I don’t have a better word for it though. But I think some hip-hop can be closer to the intent of some of the earlier folk songs- the union songs, the protest songs, the social justice songs.
 

It took 5 years for Field Report to materialize, and very quickly 
it’s become critically acclaimed. What has been the most exciting
aspect of this turn around?

The most exciting part about it is when we are able to win over a new crowd. When we are in a place for the first time, and everyone is on the same page together. When you can help someone feel something through the lens of a performance of these songs.
 


All of your songs carry a narrative and vivid imagery. Which track 
is the most autobiographical?

They all are in some ways, but ‘Circle Drive’ is probably the closest to the truth.
 

Image: Field Report


The video for ‘I’m Not Waiting Anymore’ syncs perfectly with the 
track. How much input do you give in terms of the creation of music
videos?

Thanks! I was very happy with how that came out. A Milwaukee-based company called About Face Media approached us about a video. We met with them, and loved where they were coming from. We let them run with it. We had a few editing meetings, but ultimately the quality of that companion piece to the song had very little to do with us.
 


You’ve spoken about not dumbing down your lyrics before and how you 
want listeners to have a good understanding of a track. As a writer,
how do you want audiences to interpret your music?

I don’t ever want a song to be heavy-handed or even mean one thing over another. But I like to listen to songs that continue to reveal themselves over time. I like to catch a lyric on the 20th listen that I had missed before, and that can shift what I understood about the artist’s intent to a new place. I want to make music that allows for that possibility, but also leaves enough room for the listener to live in it with their own life experiences and make it their own.
 

Image: Field Report

Besides folk music do you listen to any other genres?

I can enjoy just about anything. There is a peace that comes from just submitting to sound and how it relates to another sound, and guessing the intent of the people that made it. I love Robert Wyatt. I love Katy Perry. I love Björk. I love Hiss Golden Messenger. I love Solange.
 



Your lyrics read more like poetry than lyrical form. Have any poets 
inspired your writing?

I’m currently on a huge John Ciardi kick. Also the poetry of Jim Harrison and the short stories of Ray Carver have had a big influence on my words and internal rhyming and rhythm.

 

Image: Field Report

All of your characters seem flawed and melancholic. They all seem 
to be on the brink of destruction and yearning for something they can’t quite reach. It’s almost nostalgic of the characterization of Modernist writers. What was the motivation behind the creation of
these characters?

That’s just how they came out for this record. I think a lot of Modernist themes are still resonant today. We are still trying to sort out who we are in a world that can and will destroy itself. In the folk music realm, there can be a sense of longing for simpler times. It can be a reaction against perceived present-day vapidity.

I wanted to make a record that doesn’t pine for the past, but tries to wrestle with it and struggle with it, and ultimately be in a position for redemption

There’s an undercurrent of hopefulness for me on this record. I hope that it comes across.
 

Image: Field Report

Image: Field Report

Image: Field Report

Images: Field Report

'Johnny Cash' by Caroline Vos

'Ariel' by Caroline Vos

'Wednesday' by Caroline Vos

'Tortoise and Swans' by Caroline Vos

'Humphrey Bogart' by Caroline Vos

'Nicki Minaj' by Caroline Vos

'Qoh' by Caroline Vos

'Katy Perry' by Caroline Vos

Credits:
Illustrator – Caroline Vos

Controversial as she may have been, the world mourns Amy Winehouse who passed away at the ominous age of 27.

Although plagued by addiction and the pressures of overexposure, Amy Winehouse will be remembered for her mastering of many eclectic musical styles and a powerful contralto voice. She passed away on the 23rd of July at her London apartment and the investigation into her death is ongoing currently classified “unexplained.” She joins other musical greats who passed away at the grim age of 27; the likes of Jim Morrison, Kurt Corbain, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

Friends, the likes of Russell Brand, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Kelly Osbourne, and Pete Wentz, have reached out to express their sadness at the news of her passing, Brand writing a beautiful ode to her on his website (it can be found here). After her initial explosion of success, including Grammy wins and platinum albums, Amy Winehouse found herself skewered by the media on any and all public displays of an ill-nature. In the end she became that tragic figure the papers made her out to be, but in time her legacy will be remembered for her soul-lifting Jazz greats and amazing stage presence. The 27 Club, as morose as it is to say, has good company in Amy Winehouse.

“The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.“

- Russel Brand.