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Alex Rose ~ Canyon Counterpoint Demos 2005 - 2020

by alex rose ~ canyon counterpoint

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about

For many years I was terrified to share anything that wasn’t “perfect.” I worried my songs were too personal, the strumming too arrhythmic, too adolescent, too uncool. Too much... too little... not enough… what ? The polaroid photo on the cover (taken by Camie Cox in 2005!!!) is totemic of the shyness I felt sharing who I was to the world. I was terrified to be misunderstood - especially by the music community and the artists I knew or admired ~ a barrier I built in my head.

I am the only person on these recordings. By and large these songs have not been shared before. Maybe I sent one to a friend or two over email if I was feeling bold. Sometimes that friend even responded!! <3 Many of the older tracks (like “Sycamore Trees” or “The Trail of Dead” were never designed to be realized any other way. Around 2015, my intention of using garageband shifted as I started recording in studios with other musicians/producers. I could explain to them what I heard in my head, and they could help translate into bigger visions.

So, a few tunes here like “Grandmothers,” “Crosses,” “Elephant Eyes” etc went on to meet other instruments and humans and trickled into the world on tape recorded “properly” in a studio. But there are dozens of older demos and thousands of hours of voice memos that live on old harddrives and old laptops. Marie Kondo wouldn’t be so proud of my thoroughness here. I wasn’t able to locate a lot of stuff in time for this ~ special quarantine release ~ but that’s OK. I’m releasing that too. I realize now all the practice and work was just preparing me for what’s next. There’s always another idea if we remain open.

After I played “Wild Child” at an open mic at El Cid in 2015 (I was too embarrassed to invite my friends on this adventure), a girl told me if that song was on YouTube she’d listen to it all time. Years before this, in the MySpace era, an ex-boyfriend told me my music was boring. It’s interesting - and worth breaking down - the feedback and narratives we internalize. Why did I date that guy? Lol. I remember the morning after the idea for “Giant” came to me in Marfa, I listened back to the phone recording. I thought: “Well, I could maybe turn that into something.” You just never know, really, when you might catch one… an idea…

It’s my hope that sharing these rough sketches might inspire you to share your own art. Or do an interpretive dance, or make something embarrassing that’s not really embarrassing afterall. It’s unique and beautiful because it’s you. I’d like to gently tell my younger self that you don’t have to wait for permission to have your creative voice heard. I’d like to break down the barrier between who is allowed to make art and who isn’t. We are all creators!!! Don’t let the man get you down now. We need your art. I need your art!

With this release I hope to clear the slate and move from this day forward in 2020 with clear vision and a blank canvas. Thank you for listening or coming to that coffee shop on 45th St in Seattle’s University District to hear me play a couple of these songs back in 2007. Lol. Bless this mess. This is for y’all. Thank you for even the most simple words of encouragement to keep doing it. It means everything to me in my small lil corners of the world. I promise I heard. Even if I was quiet for a long time. <3

credits

released May 1, 2020

All songs written and recorded at home by Alex Rose (Canyon Counterpoint) between 2005-2020. Bless this mess. <3

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about

alex rose ~ canyon counterpoint Austin, Texas

musician + policy at #TXLege ~ host of A Lot of Good People Told Me podcast ~ lbj school and lbj women's campaign school alum ~ 7th-generation texan yeehaw

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