Music

Art of Nothing

AJ Silverberg

Art of Nothing is the culmination of many ideas I’ve been working on for the past several years. It is loosely based on my own journey with the teachings of impermanence and mindfulness. In this fast-paced world, where everyone is seeking external validation and material success, we can easily lose sight of the simple yet profound truth that true

Art of Nothing is the culmination of many ideas I’ve been working on for the past several years. It is loosely based on my own journey with the teachings of impermanence and mindfulness. 🧘🏼 In this fast-paced world, where everyone is seeking external validation and material success, we can easily lose sight of the simple yet profound truth that true happiness lies within.

Through this album, I wanted to explore the concept of true freedom from this illusion. Does true freedom mean doing something for nothing, or doing nothing for something? Or is it possible to be content with doing something for something, or even doing nothing for nothing? The songs on this album take the listener on a journey, from the inception of an idea, through the twists and turns of the physical world, and to the final awakening. By the end, like a dream, nothing may have transpired at all.

For a while, these songs existed only as incomplete fragments, destined to remain on my hard drive forever. The Universe seemed to know, something was destined to come of nothing. The chorus of our title track wraps up advising our listener, “when it all adds up it will never compare if you master the art of nothing” When I wrote this lyric I was thinking of mindfulness and stillness as a vehicle to unlock truths BUT truths can sometimes hide deeper meaning we can’t see at first. It can only be explained that my future self must have reached back into my past consciousness to leave me a map (or that my past and present self are actually existing at the same time or dimensional juncture). My original intent was to say that I needed to be doing nothing at all… In fact, what I needed to do was complete this album and have it MASTERED into something without compare.

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Signal To Shine Bright

AJ Silverberg

The title "Signal To Shine Bright" was originally a lyric I wrote. "On the horizon a setting red sun, signals to shine bright each one by one." It describes at the end of each day our own star signaling to the millions of others that it is their time to share their light through darkness. It was the fall in 2009 and I was experiencing writers
The title "Signal To Shine Bright" was originally a lyric I wrote. "On the horizon a setting red sun, signals to shine bright each one by one." It describes at the end of each day our own star signaling to the millions of others that it is their time to share their light through darkness. It was the fall in 2009 and I was experiencing writers block. "Where is my inspiration?" I thought to myself. I had ambitions to write and record the greatest harmonica album of all time, if only I could think of something to play! One evening I dimmed the lights, sat on the floor and cleared my thoughts until a melody appeared. Time slipped away, I left myself, out of the darkness, through the universe, and deep into my consciousness shot a beautiful melody that gripped me and brought me back from within myself. I grabbed my music gear and wrote a song called "Signal To Shine Bright" which was the catalyst of a new creative era for me. After all that the song was cut along with many others but the title remained significant to me.

The album "Signal to Shine Bright" takes cues from many styles and genres. It runs the gamut from jazz, folk, funk, hard rock, and blues. I would bet if you listen to the song “What U Livin” you would be hard pressed to label it under and genre at all. The lyrics on the album take feelings and abstract ideas and morph them into a variety of shades and allegory. I tried to do my best to incorporate harmonica into each song while avoiding tired cliches. I tried to avoid feeling that each song had to highlight my technical abilities. Don't get me wrong there are some harmonica solos I am proud of, strap in for the electrifying ending of "Step Outside" However, as I meticulously crafted and recorded each song I wanted the music to feel like the instruments were doing a delicate dance with one another. If you listen closely you can hear the conversation unfold between each musical layer. As the conversation develops you will experience the songs building to exciting peaks and grande finales.

The album was recorded in at least 6 different rooms over 6 years. The songs were written over an even longer period of time going all the way back to 2004. My goals changed from wanting to record the greatest harmonica album of all time (for now) and many parts were scrapped, rerecorded, dubbed over, rethought, and so on and so forth. Experiments turned into compositions and acoustic demos were electrified. I had fun over the years trying to salvage and preserve fleeting moments of inspiration. It is with great excitement that I am finally ready to share that inspiration with you. I hope you enjoy "Signal To Shine Bright" and that it might serve in someway as a signal for you to shine your light as well!
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Additional Discography

 "It's Yours" - Eric and Happie, 2016 Electric Guitar, Bass

 "All These Little Loves" - Eric Hunker, 2013 Bass, Electric Guitar, Harmonica