About

Welcome! This is a music project that I created as an outlet for my most personal and introspective songs. These songs were written for an audience of one (me) and as a form of therapy to process things but I hope to be able to share the music both in recorded and live formats with anyone who is interested.

I try to make music that I would like to listen to myself. My inspirations are (partial list, in no order of importance):

• Early 2000s era indie rock and pop (e.g., Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Broken Bells)
• Some alternative music from the 1980s (e.g., R.E.M.)
• LowFi Shoegaze (e.g., Duster)
• Modern singer-songwriters (e.g., Gregory Allan Isakov, Dean Johnson, Hudson Freeman)
• Modern indie rock (e.g., Pinegrove, Deep Sea Diver, The Beths)
• More obscure Dreamgaze bands like somesurprises, Paradise Blossom, Castlebeat, Acid Ghost (but I haven’t really learned how to make music like that yet)

One of my ideas is to include in my blog some reflections on the music that I like to listen…but I have lots of ideas and not so much time.

This project is also about more than the music. The music to me, exists as part of artwork that includes imagery, video, and written expression. For each song, I have posted the lyrics, recordings and videos (where and when I have them) as well as the “Story of the Song” including the visual inspirations that are the center of most of my music. I am also going for a particularly low-fi and DIY aesthetic. Hence the 1990s era computer font (FYI, fonts are important to me!).

My goal with my music is to capture how I feel when I listen to music that I love. Everyone wants different things from art. Some people like to dance to music (I do not), some people like to exert maximum energy or at least watch their bands do so (I used to like that more when I was younger). Most of that music that I listen to now is introspective and sometimes sad with themes of longing, loss, reflection, regret, and other emotions like that. I’m getting soft in my old age. If that interests you, it would be great to have you along for the ride as I pursue this somewhat quixotic quest to play music that is kind of obscure to an audience that I cannot say for sure exists!

While I recognize that music is a business and that are expenses associated with making, distributing, and playing music, my objective is not to monetize my audience (if I ever have one other than myself). My objective is to make music that I like and then share it with whomever is interested.

Oh, and just to make sure I was using the correct term, I double-checked the definition of “quixotic” in the source of all human knowledge (Wikipedia) and I am glad that I did because, it explains this project well (maybe absent the chivalry):

Quixotism is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action. It also serves to describe an idealism without regard to practicality. An impulsive person or act might be regarded as quixotic.

I’m not really a people person but if you have read this far, I should probably also introduce myself. My name is Ralph Flick and I am a wannabe singer-songwriter in the Pacific Northwest. Nice to meet you.