more damon, less africa express

September 20, 2012

I swear I’ll be done with Damon soon!

Actually that’s not a very good thing to swear on.

But… I’ll probably try to restrain my desire to spam him for the rest of the month. Which is only like 10 or so days… so that’s not actually saying much.

But I just HAD to post this because it’s a real quality find.

damonalbarn.tumblr.com is just a fabulous resource for superfans like me. Their team of 3 or so ladies is just always on top of everything Damon. & they’ve delivered again with finding a lot of Damon’s notes when composing one of his best supergroup albums: The Good, The Bad, & the Queen [that album has done wonders for me as a person, especially getting me through hard times – especially helping me fall asleep after ridiculous emotional turmoil.] Here are some quality little snippets into Damon’s mind that I find utterly fascinating. ESPECIALLY SINCE A LOT OF THEM ARE LYRICS & DAMON IS A LYRICAL GENIOUS. JUST LOOK @ THOSE LYRICS. LOOK @ THE DIFFERENT PEN COLORS. LOOK @ THE SCRIBBLES & SCRIBBLING OUTS. LOOK @ THE LITTLE DRAWINGS. LOOK @ IT ALL.

[Northern Whale is an institution of song btw. Fabulous. Especially now that I’ve recently learned that he made it for / it based on / it was inspired by his partner, Suzy.]

His process of frantically writing things down… I can relate a lot to that [& I think most writers can]. When you’ve got SOMETHING you just push it into as many places as possible on a page. Sometimes some of the best ideas are just hastily scribbled, while you’re praying / hoping it doesn’t leave your brain as you transfer it from brain waves to the page. & luckily Damon was able to achieve that – although of course not in the prettiest manor possible. But who gives a fuck about neatness sometimes. The end product will always be refined so who cares how messily you started off.

Also lovely little coffee stains in one of those above pictures. :] Nice, dear.

Interesting bits & music, eh?

& then the following are some pictures of Damon that I find so lovely. Not just because of his face, either. A lot of them [or possibly all of them] are black & white. & you can capture so much soul in a person – especially their face. You can get all the gritty details of the soul. & Damon has a lot of soul LOL ESPECIALLY FOR A WHITE GUY. But yeah.

He feels so much passion in whatever he’s doing & he’s often photographed in these states of holy moments – in a state of complete rapture, really – as he’s singing or playing an instrument or in the process of creating something. He’s always so inspired & he will forever inspire me.

He’s one of those souls that loves fully & feels fully & does everything to the fullest. Of course that gets him into trouble sometimes [I can relate], but it creates better art – better music. & it creates maybe even a better person. I consider Damon to be of A+ quality.

Also the shadows & highlights & angles of these shots are so killer. The photo nerd in me is so happy & so overjoyed to see photos of such clarity & grandeur. But they're also just so real, conveying real humans not in some overly-glossed over way, but in a very human element. It's just Damon performing & singing. No glamour in that. Just him connecting. & the camera connecting to that connection. & to the emotions that he's feeling & to the emotions he's making other people feel.

I really hope to take some photos as lovely as these. They're almost as inspiring as Damon is himself.