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Music: An Impossible Dream Come True

by Fifi Rong

Fifi Rong

Chapter 1: The Death of an Impossible Dream

From the tender age of eight, melancholy wove its stars into the fabric of my life. Deep, existential contemplations about life’s transient nature became my constant companions. My young mind, captivated by these musings, delved into the profound mysteries of existence. In these depths of reflection, I discovered music’s magnetic effects, a revelation that ignited a spark in my soul.

Around the age of ten, I discovered my natural singing ability, dreaming of a life as a music artist. However, this dream faced immense resistance. I grappled with a soul-tormenting dilemma: a burning desire to devote my life to music, contrasted by a deep-seated belief, instilled by those closest to me, that I lacked the talent. Their laughter and doubts, and concerns that I was chasing a delusion, cast long shadows over my aspirations. The belief that “I wasn’t a good enough singer, nor did I look the part,” became an unchallenged conviction for the next decade.

第一章：无望的梦想

我从小就是个感情丰富、爱沉思的孩子。在我幼小的心灵里，我经常沉浸在对生命本质的思考之中。在这些深邃的反思里，我逐渐发现了音乐对我灵魂的强烈吸引力，这成为了唤醒我内心深处火花的启示。

大约在十岁时，我发现自己天生具有唱歌的才能，开始梦想成为一名音乐艺术家。然而，这个梦想遭遇了巨大的阻力。我陷入了一种灵魂深处的挣扎：对音乐的热爱与深植于心的不自信之间的矛盾。周围人的嘲笑和怀疑，以及他们认为我追求的不过是一场幻觉，给我的志向蒙上了阴影。长久以来，我无法挑战内心的那个声音：“我唱的不够好，长得也不够漂亮。”

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For Each Song I Create a New Character

by Ben Richel


During my childhood in Savoie, France, most of my free time was devoted to one activity: imagination. I imagine grandiose destinies but also standard and common stories: From fishermen in the Philippines to Western rockstars, from 19th-century wars to post-collapse scenarios, from my Star Wars spin-offs to projecting myself on stage later… I could imagine revolutionary flying machines, and the same day imagine the realistic routine of the today’s French middle class (I am myself in the middle, like Malcolm!)

For me, everything is interesting.

My life has been built by imagining and connecting lives. It was obvious that one day I would invent characters, partly because expressing my whole personality cannot be done by simply embodying a predefined, cliché role given by society.

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‘10 Years of Travel’ – The Long Journey Home

by Andy Coombs of Soft Cotton County

Soft Cotton County


Music was once ‘the most important, unimportant thing we had,’ said music critic and presenter Robert Elms. This sums up my relationship with writing in general and music in particular. I want to keep it unique and avoid the fillers and the B-sides. One great song would make me happy. In an ocean of mediocrity, sea levels are rising, but starfish are still found in the depths.

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Lying By Myself

by Pete Hobbs aka Diving At Dawn

Pete Hobbs aka Diving At Dawn

In October 2022, I made Diving At Dawn’s 2010 debut single A Lot Like Love available on Spotify for the first time. I pitched the track to some playlists via a site called Groover and was surprised and pleased with the response; it started getting plays and picking up some fans. This modest interest in the song got me thinking about recording and releasing some new material.

Diving At Dawn has always been a frustrating stop-start affair for me. I’ve never been able to be genuinely productive and build momentum with it because I find working alone so tricky. As part of a band or production team, I’m pretty efficient, but when the responsibility falls solely upon my shoulders, I become a procrastinating perfectionist of epic proportions. The lack of productivity in my solo work has caused me a fair bit of anxiety over the years, but I’ve always been busy enough with other projects to distract myself. However, in 2022 my anxiety levels went through the roof. Unfortunately, age, experience, budget constraints, and technology have all conspired against me, thus turning Diving At Dawn into a genuine one-person band.

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Soft Harm Patch

by Dislocated Flowers

Soft Harm Patch by Dislocated Flowers

Music is where I go when I wish to step out of current time and space.

There is no Control mechanism in there playing on my conscious or unconscious mind telling me I must, should or am obliged to be doing something or other.

It is my place of Zen or a form of meditation if you prefer.

It’s the only place where everything external stops other than the immediate Now and I feel at peace in my own world.

I like to put sounds together to see what will happen. Often with words, sometimes not. The way they synthesise is an endless source of enjoyment and wonder to me. I never know where it’s going to end up and that is the main joy.

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Changes to Numbers Broken

by Ben George

Changes to Numbers Broken by Ben George of Merry Christmas
The spherical ball flew flyingly through the damn autumn leaves like a nauseating plane that was too small and round to be in any way practical. But flew it did, having been propelled as it had by Adam’s fearsome left foot. The kids who lived in Miyashita-koen still tell stories about that left foot and use words like “fearsome” and “left”. I stood vertical in the goalmouth, a moth to the flame, a fish in a barrel, a horse to water, and did what any decent Thursday morning goalkeeper is obliged to do: I saved the potential goal so hard and crushed the dreams of the understandably confident Adam.

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Far From Home

by New Nervous Kind

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0017194987_10.jpg
The time to start a musical project should probably have been in a university where access to a range of different musicians was abundant. But then most people choose to learn the hard way…

The New Nervous Kind was created in the wake of the university with nothing more than a laptop (to program drums), a guitar, and a bass guitar, with the help of a trusty microphone. The setting was an isolated attic space, far from friends or family, which would serve well as the basis for the nostalgic lyrics and mechanical quality for our first single “Going Nowhere.”

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