A few weeks ago I wrote that there’s a difference between a sign and a pattern. A sign is something you can shrug off. A pattern is something that keeps turning up until you deal with it.
This post is me dealing with it.
It’s also me going back on something I said in that same post, so let’s get that out of the way first.
The Goal I’m Letting Go Of
For a while now I’ve been telling myself (and of course anyone who’d listen) that 2026 would be the year of two releases: my artist album PastPresentFuture, and my tribute album Songs For Mara.
But, no matter how I look at it, that isn’t going to happen. There’s just not enough time.
Now, the songs for the two albums exist as completed demos, but I must reduce each to around fifteen songs. Then I must re-record, produce, and finish every track properly while balancing my day job, businesses, and everything else I do.
In reality, the real reason is much simpler than the maths…
For the first time in a very, very long time, I’m putting my health and well-being first, and right now I’d rather take care of that than chase a deadline.
I know I’ve said this a number of times before but believe me, this time it’s happening.
So I’m calling it now, with three months still left on the clock, instead of letting it quietly run out on the 31st of December and pretending I didn’t notice.
As we all know, a deadline you know you’re going to miss doesn’t push you forward. It just sits behind you and gnaws away at the back of your mind.
Why? My Health Comes First
Recently I’ve realised that my health is not a project for later. It’s the very thing every other project sits on top of.
Realising this also has consequences, because something had to give.
Rebuilding my health and making two albums at the same time would both draw on the same limited supply of time, energy and attention. For most of my adult life, whenever those two things competed, my health lost… Not this time.
A Quick Drive To 99 Update
I’ve also mentioned that I wasn’t turning my website into a weight loss diary, but I also said I wasn’t going to hide it, so here’s where things stand.
At my last doctor’s appointment on the 19th of August I tipped the scales at 165kg. Yesterday morning I weighed 156.1kg.
That’s 8.9kg in about six weeks.
Now, I’m not sharing that to show off but because it proves what I said last time around: a goal with a name, a number and a finish line actually moves you forward.
The concept of “I should get healthier” has just sat there doing nothing for over twenty years. “The Drive To 99” got me going inside six weeks.
The weight is only the easy metric though. The blood tests are the real point, and the next set of results in another 6-8 weeks time are the ones I’ll really be waiting on.
That will determine whether what I’m doing now is working and also what I’ll be doing next.
Living The Way I Moved Here To Live
In that same post, I also mentioned about living in Yankalilla, but still living a city life in a country town, just with a nicer view out the window.
Putting my health first means I’m finally living the life that I moved down here for. A slower pace, fewer commitments, less noise, and more attention on the things that matter.
Because honestly, what is the use of recording, releasing, performing and promoting my music if my health prevents me from giving these activities my 100% concentration and ability?
Slow, Steady, Simple and Silent
I’ve also written about from time to time the concept of living a life that is slow, steady, simple and silent and calling it the “4S Philosophy.”
Now I’ve been trying to formalise this philosophy as something that I can really live my life by as I’m convinced that these four things are the key to creating some sort of balance in ones life.
When it comes to the change in my music recording, releasing and performing plans, this is how adhering to the philosophy has played out…
- Slow is about owning my own pace. That end of 2026 deadline was set by an earlier version of me, in very different circumstances. Sticking with it just because I said it would still mean letting someone else set my pace. It just happens that the someone else is me from a while back.
- Steady is about a rhythm people can rely on. A pace I can keep up beats a sprint I can’t.
- Simple is about removing whatever doesn’t earn its place. One song at a time is simple. Two albums at once is not. Working in smaller pieces also leaves room for the other parts of my life that need my attention, instead of everything getting squeezed around one giant project.
- Silent is about not making noise just to be seen making it. Rushing out music so I can say I released something this year would be exactly that.
PastPresentFuture: One Song At A Time
Here’s the good news part of this post.
PastPresentFuture is still happening. It’s just going to reach you differently.
Re-evaluating my album goals has also changed the way I look at recording, releasing and marketing my music in general. I’m moving to a single release mentality, which is a much better fit with how the music business works right now.
Albums are a fantastic product, but only if you have a fan-base to sell them to.
My music career is now in its second phase, concentrating only on my own material, and if I’m being honest, I don’t have much of a base to work with yet.
That can come later.
Just like a falling tree with no one to witness it, an album released into an empty room doesn’t make a sound. A singles release give each song its own moment, and each release is another chance for someone new to find me.
The Rhythm
The plan is a new release every three months at the most.
That gap is deliberate. It gives each song enough time to be finished properly, and it gives me enough time to put together a structured music marketing plan behind every release, instead of just uploading something and hoping for the best.
Once that plan is built, I can run it again for the next single, and the one after that. I’ve spent my working life running projects, and a process you can repeat beats a burst of enthusiasm every time.
It’s the same reason the Drive To 99 is working.
Four singles a year doesn’t sound like much. But twelve months from now I’ll have a real body of released work out in the world, instead of two unfinished albums sitting on a hard drive.
And besides, if anything changes for the better… You will be the first to know.
A Body Of Work, Not A Sequence Of Albums
The concept of releasing albums versus maintaining a body of work is not a new thing in my mind. I have toyed with the idea a number of times over the years and even wrote a post about it arguing that fact.
What’s changed now is that I am in a far better position to look at my songwriting as maintaining and growing that body of work, rather than filling up one album after another and that in itself has taken an enormous amount of pressure off my shoulders.
It now lets me concentrate on one smaller piece of the bigger goal at a time, which means I’ll get more done and still have room to live the rest of my life.
Then The Album
As the singles go out and people start to gather around them, the album becomes something different. It stops being the introduction and becomes the reward.
When there are enough people invested in these songs to justify it, the PastPresentFuture album will go to them first, the people who were there from the first single.
This Is Where You Come In
If you’ve read this far, you’re already part of this.
I’ll keep you informed on my progress the same as always, but here’s the difference: you won’t be waiting years for a whole slab of songs to be finished before you hear anything. You’ll hear something new every few months.
I’m not after followers for the sake of a number. What I want is a small group of people who genuinely care about the songs, and who come for the work.
If that sounds like you, here’s where things will be happening:
- This blog, where I’ll keep writing about all of it.
- YouTube, where the live-streams will live
- Wherever you stream music, where the singles will live
- Wherever you buy music, where the download will live
Songs For Mara Plays By Different Rules
Now, Songs For Mara is not part of any of the above.
It will still be an album, but because it’s a tribute album it needs to be heard as one complete piece.
Because of this, it doesn’t need to follow a release plan, a marketing plan or anybody’s idea of what’s commercial.
It doesn’t need to be polished to anyone’s standard but its own and therefore it will be ready when it’s ready.
What Isn’t Changing
A lot has happened but here is what’s remaining the same.
The covers retirement stands. June 21st was my last covers gig, and everything still goes into my own songs.
The proposed live-streams are still on track. I’m aiming to have a prototype setup running from SongMachine by the end of the year. The equipment is ready to go but the last job is hard-wiring the studio into my internet connection so I’m not relying on WiFi.
The live-stream and the singles work well together, too. The stream is where you’ll hear songs taking shape. The singles are where the finished versions land. Each one gives you a reason to check out the other.
So here’s the updated version of where all this is going:
- The singles, one every three months at the most
- The live-stream, with a prototype running by the end of 2026
- The Drive To 99, numbers and all
- Whatever life throws up along the way
Out Of The Chair
Last time I finished by saying you can’t pass on much of anything from a chair you’ve stopped getting out of.
I’m now well and truly out of the chair. I’ve got 8.9kg that says so with many more kilograms to lose and so much more health to gain.
It’s that I’m just walking instead of sprinting, and for the first time in a long time I’m fine with that. More than fine, actually. I’m relieved.
I can give my full attention to what’s important right now without feeling guilty about the things I’ve left by the wayside for a while.
At the end of the day, the songs have waited this long so I’m sure they’ll keep a little longer. They’ll be better for being made by someone who’s still going to be around to finish them.
Watch this space…
Peace,
Corey 🙂
