Seahorse Chandeliers by Pumpkin Friend

Seahorse Chandeliers is a sonic exploration of one of my many “entry” books—homemade collections of poems, stream-of-consciousness meanderings, absurd stories and brief plays, journal entries, fragmentary ideas that would sometimes turn into song lyrics, and a smattering of visual images in a variety of forms.

The Entries

The birth of these entry books began in ninth grade biology class. A classmate and I started writing humorous one-line statements on each other’s folders to pass the time. Once our folders were thoroughly covered, I found a 3-ring binder at home, stuffed it full of loose leaf paper and brought it to class. Now, we were passing the folder back and forth, taking turns writing single-paragraph nonsensical stories with titles like Tale of Abraham, or Zen Master Ikematsu.

The first one of these books I named Chapter of the Spirit Blessed (a reference to a favorite Commodore game). We made three of these entry books together over the course of the semester. Soon, I found myself writing them in other classes, and even in the evening when I got home. What began as a tool for entertaining each other during the drudgery of school, was now turning into a personal obsession and an outlet to express my weirdest and most deranged thoughts.

What was great about the entries was that I never knew what was going to come out until I put pencil/pen to paper. They were never planned—very of the moment. “It’s all about quantity not quality,” I would often, half-jokingly, brag to my bewildered friends as I joyously amassed book after book of these things.

The main idea behind it was that there would be absolutely no rules. It was a celebration of total freedom on the page—something that was completely mine. I could put whatever I wanted to on those pages. It didn’t matter if it was grammatically correct, or if it was “good” writing, or if anyone else liked it—it was a form of therapy and I accepted the imperfect beauty that flowed out without question or revision.

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I don’t write entries too much anymore. From time to time, I will try to reignite the love I once had for them. Seahorse Chandeliers is the last time I tried to re-engage. It was 2018. As always, I found the words still waiting there to come out, as the line in the first entry Sherbet Moon Patrol says, “on and off like a faucet.”

For this project, I was curious to see if I could add an extra dimension to the writings through sound.

Seahorse Chandeliers has two (loose) main themes: one is my love of the coast and the other is the 5-part Women of the Bird & of New York saga.

The bonus track consists of a single entry I came across in a different book (a blank artist sketchbook) while working on this project. The book was empty except for this one entry that happened to reference many of the same coastal memories as Seahorse Chandeliers. So I decided to include it.

Hopefully, their weirdness, silliness, atmosphere, and heartfelt longing can help someone else get through a moment of the total drag that is 2020, just as they helped me and my friend get through 9th grade biology.

If you want to know more about The Entries or my music feel free to write me.

Thanks,
Pumpkin Friend

Sounds & Words. Outsider, bedroom, experimental, folk, indie, spoken word.

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