Today I’m sharing a new type of music-making artifact I’ve been noodling on for a while: the ‘unwritten record’.

Unwritten Records are inspired by how fired up my imagination would get as a young person anytime I saw an album cover with artwork that appealed to me.

“I wonder how that sounds” I would say while hallucinating my own, idealized version of the songs and production aesthetic the album art implied to me.

I was mostly disappointed (lol) … but the moment of wondering was marvelous. Unwritten Records are a music-making artifact anchored in that moment.

HOW TO USE ‘UNWRITTEN RECORDS’

Each record contains two pieces of stimulus for songwriting: 1) album cover and title, and 2) a track list.

You can use one side or both as jumping-off point for music-making.

Using the album cover and title: Capture the vibe or mood of the artwork in music. Write songs that feel like they belong on the album.

Using the track list: Take a title and write your own version of that song. You can choose to make it feel like it belongs with the album art, or not.

NOTE: The artwork for the front covers of all Unwritten Records is generated in via dogged, imaginative prompting of Canva’s AI. The back covers are mostly all me.

I’ll be sharing new Unwritten Records each month for paid subscribers, with very occasional posts (like this one) unlocked so everyone can access it.

In the meantime, you can download the first volume of Unwritten Records from Gumroad for $5. It contains Birdworks, plus six other Unwritten Records. Paid subscribers can download it for free.

UNWRITTEN RECORD: Birdworks

Comments on this post are for paid subscribers