Forever Free Salton Sea
Welcome to the Forever Free Salton Sea (Music & Picture Show) for my song Forever Free and Chapter 1 of my Pretty Dopamine Bullets visual album. Thank you for being here.
Chapter 1: Forever Free Salton Sea
Chapter 2: High Freqeuncy Ghost
Chapter 3: Eye Was Baptized
Chapter 4: WOVEN SOUL
Chapter 5: DOPAMINE QUEEN
CHAPTER 6: ATMOSPHERIc
Forever Free is now available everywhere you stream or download music. Cinematic, desert rock vibes.
A Side: Hifi Studio
B Side: Lofi Live Acoustic
I thought it'd be cool to release both the studio track and a lofi acoustic version so you can hear the evolution of the song. I love the creativity and collaboration that comes with working in the studio but, honestly, as an artist there are a lot of places to hide in that process. Big, cinematic soundscapes are great but sometimes it's hard to beat the vulnerability and emotion of a live/solo/acoustic performance. The hifi A Side took us six months to make and the lofi B Side took about four minutes sitting on salt next to an old boat. Let me know which one you like better.
I think in pictures. I always have. I write songs with pictures in mind - either one I've seen or one I want to make. When I wrote Forever Free this is the landscape I envisioned. Barren, monochromatic, harsh and hot but also beautiful and tempting. A place offering an escape from reality. Where following someone into the abyss might be worth it...
your face moves in and out of frame like this - like this heat wave
Maybe it was a dream…
i woke in the sea - you said, hey, i’d be free
It’s not often that I write a proper rock & roll song. So, when it came time to record the track and make the video for Forever Free, we took full advantage of the desert rock vibes.
salt in my eyes, blood on your hands - i still, remember it all
A few years ago, I was taking photos near the Salton Sea in Southern California. It was a white hot afternoon and I was wrapping up at East Jesus in Slab City when a woman walked out of the desert wearing a bright white dress with dark skin and long dark hair. She looked like a mirage…blurred by the summer heat and desert dust. I put the camera up to my eye to take a photo but, for some reason, I couldn’t. I just watched her move in and out of the frame like a heat wave. She passed by with a smile and a hello and I never saw her again. Looking back…I think she was real. I wrote Forever Free a few days later at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. It’s the story of what might have happened if I had taken that photo. Would she have stolen my soul? Would it have been worth it?
hello was no reason - to change what, i believe in
Bought this old duck hunting boat from Chris on Craigslist in Bozeman, Montana. He built it by hand 30 years ago while living in the Bay Area and strapped it to the top of his Toyota Celica when he moved to Montana in the late 90s. He and his wife had their first date on it. When I picked it up, he warned me that it still had some life in it but it wasn’t “seaworthy.” When I told him that’s alright because I’d be dragging it across a dried lake bed he just smiled and said, “I guess that’s a good a plan as any.”
i picked all the flowers - until our, time was over
I sketched this scene next to the first handwritten lyrics for "Forever Free" a few years ago. We had a blast recreating it. I guess some days are just better than others and this was a great one. It was a family affair on a perfect monochrome kinda day with a technicolor sunset (so good, we actually filmed a bit in color). My wife - somewhat reluctantly - played the role of desert siren. My 9 year old son was key grip, craft services and ran the misting fans between takes. And our longtime friend and collaborator, Nathan Norby, brought the video cameras. That’s it…just the four of us in the middle of nowhere under a harsh sun on a random Wednesday in July. Not your typical summer vacation. Big thanks to Music Villa in Bozeman, Montana for hooking me up with the perfect vintage Epiphone amp to complete the vibe.
my strong suspicions, your bad intentions - whisper, in the wind
A Side: Hifi Studio (album cover photo).
so easy on the whys - that i was, easy on the eyes
B Side: Lofi Live Acoustic
one night with an angel - for the, life of me
Thank you.
Thank you sincerely for taking the time to check out Forever Free Salton Sea. We had a blast making the music and the pictures. Here’s some behind-the-scenes photos and video.
Cheers, jkb
On to Chapter 2… Pretty Dopamine Bullets