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The
Unfinished Affair “The Unfinished Affair” is a new CD by Jeff Curtis, which contains twelve rock and pop songs along with a QuickTime video of the song “Madness.” I began to record “The Unfinished Affair” in January of 2001, although at the time I didn’t realize that I had begun work on a CD. I was simply trying to learn how to use the new Digital Performer software that I had purchased with my new Mac G4. Somewhat intimidated by the new
software (It’s been my experience that whenever I get new music
software there is some glitch that makes me want to take a sledgehammer to
the computer before I’m finally able to sort it out.) I began working on a song that I liked but had never been
able to finish writing. I figured
that if something went wrong and I screwed it up that it wouldn’t
matter. That song was “Madness.” “Madness” had been around
since 1998. I even had guitar
parts that Dan had recorded one night when we had gotten together but I had never
been able to write the lyrics for it.
In truth, I believe that over time I wrote three different sets of
lyrics for “Madness” and in my own, not so humble opinion they
sucked. They weren’t just
mediocre. They sucked. I had no idea what the song was
about. But a strange thing began to happen
while I was recording “Madness.” I started having fun. Knowing that the words didn’t matter I started
singing new, random lyrics to the song and I found that I liked them. In fact I liked them a lot. After two and a half years of not
knowing what the song was about, except the title, I suddenly could see it
clearly. I wrote the new lyrics
in a day. I think that is really analogous of
this whole project. It grew into
this amazing CD with an accompanying video for “Madness,” all on
it’s own accord. In it’s
early stages I thought that I might get a couple of good demos out of it but
it just kept going and I found myself more in the position of running along
beside it and trying to keep up than of directing the beast. Somewhere around the time I was
recording “Speaking the Forbidden Tongue” I began to realize that
I was no longer making demos and that I was instead engaged in the creation
of a full-fledged CD. I have found myself constantly being
amazed throughout this entire process.
For several years I had watched my joy for music disappear as I had
concentrated on only writing what I thought I could sell. This led to a lyric writing
block. I was so afraid of not
writing good lyrics that I found it virtually impossible to write any
lyrics. But, because I started
this CD without any ambitions or expectations, because I wasn’t
planning on trying to make or sell a CD, I could just do music for me again (for
the first time in years) without fear of what anyone else might
think. That freedom liberated me
artistically and allowed me to take risks and experiment with different ideas. This creative freedom brought me joy
again. It reminded me of why I started
writing music as a child. It
reminded me of what my soul needed in order to be whole. With that freedom and joy I found
myself not only creating an amazing CD but feeling alive again for the first time
in a long time. I rediscovered
the truth about who God created me to be. God filled me with music. Music is life.
Everything else is merely living. Click the thumbnails on the right to
learn more about the Unfinished Affair. Read About the Video for “Madness” |
