Neil's Thoughts

On May 3, 2024, I released my first album via Distrokid, an online music publication platform that distributes your music to platforms like Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, and more.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2ItUQrsrKX2PHU7wXs5DRP

The album, The Skin We Wear, includes 8 songs written by me, and produced using Suno, an online AI music production service.

The songs included were not specifically considered within a common theme, but rather as a result of my eagerness to share the wonder of this new technology and the songs I had created. That said, each song was considered. Although you can write a prompt that will create the words and produce the song, my preference remains to write the lyrics and provide the prompt for the style of production.

## Track Listing and Stories

1. My Music, My Friend: Inspired by my mother's love of music, and how she passed this on to me. The lyrics are personal, recalling key moments in life and singers that have remained with me throughout my life.

2. The Movies Taught Me: Where most of my peers grew up with a love of sports, I gravitated to the magic of VHS. Through four verses I cover the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s, with moments delivered in celluloid glory.

3. Silent Mode: The sad irony that we've never been more connected through technology, yet arguably more separate.

4. Until Then: We have looked after a great number of dogs over the past 15 years. Whilst there are many songs that offer comfort when we lose friends and family, there aren't enough to share the emotions of losing a pet.

5. Take That Leap: Inspired by songs like "Father to Son" by Phil Collins, dispensing wisdom in taking a chance in love. I also wanted to try giving it more of a country/upbeat feel.

6. World Shaper: Recognising the value and pleasure we take from travel; how it opens us to greater empathy of others.

7. I Can Never Go Home: Just before Covid my father passed away. We had a challenging relationship, as many fathers/sons do. In this song I reflect on how you can never go back to the 'home' of your youth and memories - it wasn't just a place, but also a time.

8. Bring Out The Pigs: The first song I produced using AI. I was about 40,000 words into a fantasy novel I'm writing, and this is a song that I created in the world of Aarva. It was fun to bring a fantasy song into the real world.

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It's about 6-weeks since I released the album. It has not become the world wide success it obviously should be (kidding!), but that was never the intention! The creating of the work is its own reward, and the fact that I enjoy listening to the songs myself is a bonus.

That said, it is with no small amount of surprise and delight that I find that people across 6 continents have found the music, with the songs played over 2,000 times.