The Inside Track : Power Strip - 'did i pass?'
This song, as well as the whole EP, is rooted in a playful catharsis. Everything on the EP was written and recorded in January 2022 for a “make an album in a month” challenge I found online through @nadarosaaa, which I told myself I’d release publicly however it turned out. It was a practice in letting go of self judgement while also pushing myself to explore and see what could happen if I committed myself solely to writing and recording songs for a month.
It was really good timing for me because my job was closed for the month, and my roommates and I were isolating from each other. It was also snowing, and I was reading “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman and it was a real moment in time. The book is very moody and magical, and is basically about the freedom found when you relinquish the adult urge to have the answers to the universe. I crafted the EP around it because it was so fitting.
I just wasn’t feeling guitars for this project so I explored new instrumental avenues, and “did i pass?” really displays that I think. The song is a bunch of loops with swirls of synth, vocals, tongue drum, and my Casio PT-100. I think it ended up being a little goofy, which totally works for me. It was an important exercise in releasing control and allowing magic in. It allowed me to simply experience rather than to understand or find validation through experience.