Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this Love Letter To A Record series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Harrison Storm – Lady of the Sunshine, Smoking Gun, (2009)
Dear Lady of the Sunshine – Smoking Gun
You are one of those records to me, that feels like I am peering into the soul of another artist. Experiencing what they experienced, dreaming what they dreamt and yearning for what they yearned. Something I find so incredible with your art is its ability to help to create a part of someone’s identity and the way we view the world. Even if it’s small.
At the time you were released I was 17 years old but I didn’t discover you for myself until I was 18-19. This time in particular, which is the same for so many others, felt so turbulent and uncertain. You came along with me for what felt like a few years of my life and I’d return to you again and again to experience something new. That’s the magic of a good record. You can always discover something new if you’re open to it. The diversity of your songs stood out to me, from the growling rock and blues licks in ‘White Rose Parade’ to the delicate and sincere folk melodies in ‘Lady of the Sunshine’, there was always a flavour and energy for whatever mood I was in. I felt like I had access to a secret world in my headphones that I could adventure to whenever I wanted. It felt safe.
The way you unveiled a whole new universe of emotion and music to me felt quite significant and paved the way for me to make music of my own, and to take it seriously. There was something so innocently powerful about sharing part of yourself in the form of music that captivated every inch of me. I had all of these things I was learning and experiencing in my early 20s that were so foreign to me but equally as exciting and intoxicating. The more I connected with your songs, the more I wanted to express what I was going through in my own art.
I still connect with your songs every now and then and when I do, I’m immediately thrown back to the inspiring space I was in when I first heard it.
Love you 4eva.
Harrison
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Listen to Harrison Storm and Enna Blake’s collaborative single ‘Eyes Wide’ here.
