The video passed half a million views, and I’m still not sure what it’s about
Thank you to everyone who’s responded to Just The Dust, a 90-second view of the universe. Especially my collaborator Michael Astley-Brown, who must have brought the magic because I didn’t
Well THIS is rather remarkable… Just The Dust has passed half a million view on YouTube. The piece is best summed up (I think) as an answer to the meaning of life in 90 seconds, and for some reason it’s been doing particularly well among Buddhists!
If you’ve watched and liked, thank you. If you’re subscribed, thank you. If you haven’t had a quick listen, you’re missing the chance of your life being changed (or something).
Most extreme and powerful thanks to Michael Astley-Brown, whose music turned a simple ditty, designed to encourage audience-response moment, into something – well, spiritual, I suppose.
Here’s JTD from Mike’s perspective:
This was the first time I’d ever written music to pre-existing words. For me, Martin’s story conjured images of futility – how we are ultimately all insignificant in the grand scheme of things – but also optimism: why the small things we worry about day to day don’t matter as much as we think they do. We’re part of something much bigger.
I wanted my guitar part to channel similar emotions – to be fragile but also omnipresent, lurking beneath the surface. It was an ideal poem for me as I’m drawn to ambiguous chords that are neither minor nor major; chords where you have to figure out how you feel about them. I found the perfect voicing on a baritone guitar, which captured that low hum of life I was looking for. The reverb captured the expanse of the universe.
The whole piece took an hour to write, record and sync up with the vocal take, as opposed to the weeks I spend crafting material with my band Maebe!
It feels weird to know that the piece of music I spent the least time on is the thing that will be heard by more people around the world than anything else. But I’m proud that it feels so human and authentic – and I thank Martin for bringing that out of me with his inspirational words.”
Be sure to check out Maebe. Their new album Brain Paint is out now.
JTD is one of 10 Boozer Cruiser stories to have reached over 100,000 views from over 2.6 million visitors and 130,000 subscribers. Go on, take a look at the channel. It might just change you…
There’s also a Bandcamp page now, where – if you wish – you can purchase some of the poems I’ve released over the past five years. Thanks in advance!
