"I'm inside of my mind as I speak to you
Trying to find the time to speak the truth
My third eye is inclined to weep the proof
because these signs will inscribe what sleeps in you
But still, my heart would hide away
My soul learned to disguise its face
to keep you all enchanted with the image that you see
But, now the physical confines are strangely
helping to define the change
The greatness pours through weightless doors
and I'm becoming free"
That stanza is the first verse of a song on my forthcoming debut album ( In Between Life) called "A Lover/Thinkers Lament". Now, for those of you who have absolutely no clue as to who I am or what in the fuck I am talking about inside those few lines....allow me to introduce myself to you by offering you a more intimate understanding of my artistry and methodology. I'll try to start at what would seem to be the beginning...
...The Way
One of the most common questions I am asked in regards to my music or any of my original works is "How do you do it?" But not with a sense of amazement, but rather of inquiry and curiousity. People wanna know do I come up with the music first and then write lyrics, or lyrics then music, or at the same time or whatever the case may be! And for a long time I'd never been able to give a concise answer because my method was never a consistent one. Yet as I have matured as a man, and as an artist, I've managed to be able to articulate the one consistent aspect in my creative process. I simply surrender to that bittersweet aspect of humanity we like to call our emotions! Now by emotions I don't mean the way that you think someone should feel at any particular moment about anything in particular, rather literally anything at all! Any aspect of life that touches me in a moment such that it's both profound and inspiring in some way, is noteworthy. Whether in a song, a rhyme, a poem, a sketch, or even scattered thoughts and doodles on a page that to the naked eye looks like scribble....I simply obey the forces that create my emotions, and let my emotions create my art.
...The Words
On this project, most of my production is coming from a long time friend and fellow vocalist Jacob "J. Perez" Borum and his company One Track Entertainment. Although he and his team are indeed multifaceted, 9 out of 10 tracks I've done from One Track are all of his own original production. Being that him and I are really the only creative entities on my project, it has been much easier to establish continuity from song to song. Interestingly enough, the most reoccurring raw theme or feeling has readily been dark. Song's like "Sticks and Stones" (myspace.com/myklhanna) with slow saturated instrumentation in minor keys, and heavy rhythmic characteristics resonate in the depths of an explicit and specific chamber of intensely emotional lyrical content...and that's one of the love songs! As you've read, the lyrics to this song are especially personal as they are not simply about me, but about a me that isn't readily identified as the me most would claim to know. So in a sense, this song (which has yet to be recorded) is an audible plunge into the depths of my uncharted personality. And as the ocean floor is devoid of sunlight, so too is the mood and lyrical development in this particular piece. Thus perpetuating the dark undertone evidently prevalent on this project.
...The Title
I love music. Good music though, I can't much fuck with the garbage out there. But people don't seem to want to acknowledge the amount of good music there is out here from countless artists that represent countless cultures across countless genres! And ever since I've been able to discern on my own what is good to me, I've done what any and most other artists of all kinds do with things they admire...I steal it! lol The beauty in art is that when you've stolen something, you may not even realize it. It may be that the part of you that is striving for individuality grabs onto anything it even casually fancies, and before the rest of you can realize what's going on, you're "individuality" is the totality of innumerable influences, most of which can never be identified in their original state. Those that can be, are. And those are the they that characterize you as a person, and in this case, me as an artist. I'm a wordy kinda guy, that much is exceedingly evident! Somewhere down the line I stole someones infatuation for detail and the use of words to illustrate that detail. So it would only seem natural that when studying music history in college, that I'd steal certain aspects of early opera. I am, after all, a friggin vocalist! And to one such vocalist as myself, the sultry soprano melody afloat over the intricately simple yet warm, dark strings that made up the famous aria from Henry Purcell's most noted Opera "Dido and Aeneas" was music to my ears, through my ears, and into my being. In a word, that was my shit! The aria is entitled "Dido's Lament". A lament is almost literally defined as a sorrowful poem or song. Being that the opera is Dido and Aeneas, when Didos character had a lament of her own, chances were that it was about her, it was pretty personal, and of course...it was dark. Likewise, In Between Life is something like my opera, my story. And because I feel lovers and thinkers can identify with my music, I feel i can identity with them and thus call myself one. Therefore, "A Lover/Thinkers Lament" is my own twisted sorrowful song, my aria.
Besides hoping that you actually reached this point, I hope that upon reaching this point in reading that you feel you know a little bit more about Myk'l Hanna, and that you would direct someone elses attention here to learn a little bit about ya boi. Word of mouth is a powerful tool! I try to be a nice guy, so it's ok to say hello! I welcome all constructive criticsim, and am eager to know what you think. Stay tuned for more needlessly extensive blogs, that could potentially be about nothing...I'll make it interesting. You make it personal. B E-Z, yo!
