WINDING ROADS - JOURNAL ENTRY

Most of the time when I sit down to write a song it’s because an emotion, lyric idea or story has come to the surface and there’s an obvious spark of creativity in the moment, but this one came more out of the blue for me than usual. I sat down to write for the songwriting club I was part of at the time (this was in 2020) and if I remember correctly, I was feeling rather neutral that day and just content to get some creative practice in, yet when I sat down this really deep, reflective song poured out.

At the time I wasn’t writing about any one thing, but just the overarching sense of searching and questioning that you go through, especially in your early twenties but really through life in general. Through releasing it I hope other people will also be able to their own personal hearts searching to this song, whatever it may be. I know it sounds a bit cliche.

You might have noticed, the album title is a lyric from this song - “Will I get to where I’m going, if I’m looking for something else?" I didn’t know what I was going to call the album until after we had recorded all of the band tracks at the Aviary in 2021, I was listening back to the production so far and figuring out how the songs fit together as a whole, what order they should go in etc. when I realised that this song sums up the entire album - it’s really all about searching and getting a little bit lost in trying to figure out the path that’s truly right for you, looking for something else.

I have the voice memo from just after I finished writing ‘Winding Roads’ - I didn’t remember until I listened back to this but I wrote it on my electric guitar which is a rare thing too! In the ‘I Heart Songwriting Club’ the rules are pretty simple, you write to the theme of the week in a one hour session and then record what you have at the end of the hour and share it with your group on your online portal - you then get feedback from your fellow songwriters and listen/ leave feedback on their songs. It’s can be scary because that first draft just after writing can be pretty rough, but knowing everyone listening is in that same vulnerable boat with you makes it a lot easier to go for it. This is a little piece of that first version I sent to my club group.

Fast forward to the last few months, behind the scenes we’ve been working on a music video for this song and I am so excited to share it following the album release! My very generous and legendary friends Lokki & Sophia have been putting hours and hours in to make it, and I think we’ve created something that really compliments and highlights the songs meaning. It was little outside my comfort zone but we had such a fun time making it!

The video isn’t quite finished being edited yet but I can’t help myself - I’ve got a sneak peek for you below and a couple of behind the scenes photos too!