Passionate Acoustics: Complex Emotions Sensitively Conveyed

I love instrumental music. Always have. Don’t get me wrong. I also love music with lyrics and strong vocal performances. I acknowledge the preeminence of the human voice, our most powerful instrument. But there’s something about the simplicity and purity of a great instrument, well played, beautifully recorded and passionately performed. I have no words to describe that.

For me, no instrument does this better than an acoustic guitar. My love affair with acoustic guitars began when I was just a child, probably no more than 3-4 years old. You see, my mother played acoustic guitar. She was a songwriter who used a cheap, beat-up, I-can’t-even-remember-the-brand-name acoustic guitar to express some very deep emotions. She did not lack for strong emotions.

There will always be this connection in my subconscious mind between acoustic guitars and my mother. Since her passing, in January of 2023, that connection has grown even stronger. I tell you this not so you’ll feel sorry for me or for her. She lived a great life into her 81st year on this planet. Even though I miss her and think of her often, I’m actually glad her suffering has ended.

As a person of faith, I know I will see her again. I will throw my arms around her and she will be healthy and vibrant and youthful. She will be centered and at peace, very much unlike the person we laid to rest on a bitter cold February day in the harsh winter of 2023. I tell you this because I don’t think you can understand this album, Passionate Acoustics, without understanding the complicated, yet beautiful, connection I had with my mother.

The Backstory Of Passionate Acoustics

When I was small, my mother was the center of my universe. I remember when she went away for a couple of days to help her sister move. I missed her so much my little heart hurt. I got to see her for just a couple of hours and knowing she was not coming home for another day or so, I wrapped my arms around her leg and wouldn’t let go. She had to pry my tiny hands apart.

One of my favorite memories of my mother comes from when I was about seven. Me and my brothers were sitting at her feet as she played the guitar and sang a song she wrote. I was bitten by the music bug right then and there. A few years later, mom taught me my first guitar chords. That’s a really sweet memory.

But as she aged and we all matured, things changed. I suppose, in years gone by, some would have described her as having a touch of melancholia. We all still loved her deeply. But bouts of depression, emotional manipulation and just general crabbiness became commonplace. The sweet mother we had all known was still there, but so was this other not-so-nice person. We never knew which person we’d get.

As me and my siblings had children, her grandchildren became her world. When the grandkids were small, everything was great. She was a wonderful grandmother. But as they aged, her relationships with them also became rather complicated. My mother left this earth with certain grandchild relationships strained beyond repair. That’s a difficult thing to acknowledge.

In October of 2021, I spent a week in a cabin in Northern Michigan very near where my parents lived at the time. The cabin was on a lake and every morning we would awaken to the sound of lake water lapping on the shore. The fall foliage was in full bloom: deep reds, rich golds, hues of purple and brown.

This lake in Northern Michigan was resplendent with autumn colors. Photo courtesy of Randall Shattuck.

I knew my mother had limited time left. I wanted to spend every minute I could with her. We played games, put puzzles together, gazed out at the lake, took naps and cooked lots of food. I could sense that this most vital relationship in my life, like the fall colors outside my window, was fading away. I wanted to set aside, to forget for a while, the difficult moments and the crabbiness. I only wanted sweetness and peace.

While I was in that cabin, I began to conceive of the album Passionate Acoustics. I was awash in very complex emotions. This complicated relationship with my mother, the years and years of memories, the desire for tranquility even in the presence of turbulence, the fading colors of autumn—all of this forms the backdrop to this album.

The stories I admire the most have characters who love each other deeply, but really struggle to be kind to each other.

The stories I admire the most have similar dynamics. The characters love each other deeply, but sometimes really struggle to be kind to each other. Words are spoken. Decisions are made. Things get complicated. Those characters are at once drawn to and repulsed by the most important people in their lives. It is this dynamic that forms the emotional backbone of Passionate Acoustics.

Who’s In The Band?

Passionate Acoustics is instrumental music that conveys complex human emotions with great sensitivity. The arrangements are often just two or three acoustic guitar tracks. The range of emotions that the music showcases include loss, hope, courage, romance, desire, loneliness, pity, joy and comfort. There are only two instruments on the entire album.

• Nylon String Acoustic Guitar. This is the most often used instrument. It is played finger style and picked.
• Steel String Acoustic Guitar. This is the secondary instrument on this album. It is also played finger style and picked.

If you listen to the music, you’ll probably sense a certain melancholia. Much of this comes from things like tempo selection, register use (upper and lower registers), harmonics and recording style. There are also a ton of effects on these compositions: light compression, stereo panning effects, reverbs and delays. None of these choices were accidental.

How To Get The Most From Passionate Acoustics

If you are telling a story about characters who love each other but struggle to be kind to each other, this is your music. If you’re telling family stories, this works. If you’re telling breakup stories, this is a fit. But this music also works for romance and passion. If you have scenes where the characters are unsure how they feel, this music works. Basically, any complex emotional content that isn’t outright anger will benefit from these tracks. Since the compositions are so pared back and stripped down, this music will slide under dialogue with ease.

Wrap Up

Thank you again for your interest in Supernatural Sounds, our music and the way we pour ourselves into this work. As I read back through this piece, I realize just how much I’ve revealed about myself and my family. That makes me uncomfortable. But I have a sense that I need to take this risk. I need to be transparent about where this music comes from and why it’s so important to me. I suppose you could say that this album is a love letter to my mother. In the end, love is all that matters.