so, this is part 1 of ‘a philosophy of freedom’. you are probably wondering whatever happened to part 2.

here is the story of how things came to be. 

I came back to Israel at the end of 2007 after spending a few years in London, England. I had a few phone numbers for new acquaintances and thought that life wasn’t bad.

one day I took a swim in the sea.

when I came out of the water, there was a fully formed Idea in my head. there will be an album, a collection of songs, and this album will be called ‘a philosophy of freedom’. I knew exactly what songs of mine would be on there. it was a pretty long list. the mediterranean had spoken. now I had only to follow.

soon after, I was having tea in Jerusalem with my friend Jotam, who is, amongst other things, a musician and producer. I didn’t tell him about the sea thing, but he knew of my songs from when we had studied together in London. so he said, why don’t we try recording a few and see where it takes us?

and so, we began.

lucky for us, Jotam had in his possession all sorts of wonderful and expensive mechanical instruments for music-making, like this gigantic microphone that is so sensitive it can almost hear your thoughts.

we wanted everything to sound as good as it possibly could, and used equipment of the highest professional standards. I didn’t do much on the technical front, because we didn’t want me to pull the wrong cable or press the wrong button and ruin everything. but sometimes I would bring cookies and tea to the studio (and sometimes healthier stuff like bananas).

very soon we realized we weren’t in it for just a few songs. something good was happening.

we used the Vibes studio in a place called Neurim by the sea. Jotam gathered some Very Talented Musicians and also played many of the instruments himself.

for the piano and vocal tracks, we went to a wonderful space in Jaffa called Hateyva, where one of the beautifullest Steinway grands resides in grace.

those were very special sessions. Jotam made sure the Steinway was surrounded by little microphones that I had to gently scratch before we started recording to make sure they were working. my friend Roy Sturdy came by and took these great photos.

once we finished recording, we started the process of mixing. this took ages. but I found that I knew exactly what I wanted (which doesn’t happen all that often), and that made things a lot easier.

we were having a lot of fun. and then something strange happened.

we ran out of money.

I wasn’t sure what to do. there wasn’t a clear plan to follow in the first place, which was just as well as we had little in the way of pursuing any further professional music-making. going to labels was an option, but not a very appealing one - I had heard many a horror story about withheld masters and both limited and limiting PR, and was less than anxious to give away the rights to my own music.

so I went back to the sea.

this time, however, it was too cold to swim.

so I walked on the sand barefoot, very slowly, like they taught me in the Vipassana course I took. I tried to exercise trust. trusting the sand to support me, trusting my legs to take the next step for me, trusting my mind to reveal the answers I needed, if only I managed to keep it still and quiet.

finally, it came.

there would be two parts to ‘a philosophy of freedom’. part I, and part II. they would complete each other, but also tell two individual stories, each on its own.

I went back home and started writing this, excited at the thought of continuing to mix part II as soon as I financially could. I love these songs, all of them. I have a different favourite every day. they are my friends in every way, and they have touched other people in ways that I could never have anticipated. this is why I’m making the effort (apart from a good session of songwriting or performing exceeding by far the excitement and fulfillment of the best sexual experience imaginable) (or maybe I just haven’t yet had the best sex ever, I don’t know. I’m open) (but I doubt it). 

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