Who or what is this thing called mothershout?

This Substack is about music; writing, arranging, recording, mixing and production. Also, agonizing about, being frustrated by and wrestling with music. You can hear all the music released by mothershout on Spotify and YouTube. It’s also on nearly every other streaming service there is. Just search for mothershout.

Many (many!) years ago, a teenager became fascinated by music, and how it was created. How did someone write a song, that became a track, which appeared on a vinyl record and could make you sing along or dance or cry? Music was everywhere, coming from the radio or the TV or the hi-fi… but how was it made? How did you do it?

For those who grew up, like me, in the era of vinyl, a record was a tokenistic object. It was more than just a carrier of the music carved into the grooves; it was artwork, printed lyrics, band photos. It was a connection with the band who made it.

I’m Ben, and the band called mothershout is what I use to explore how music is made. I call it a band, but it’s just me; I write, arrange, record, produce and release everything myself, because even though I’m decades older than that teenager I’m still fascinated by everything involved in the creation of music. And because I love it.

Nothing qualifies me to write about this stuff. I never went to music school. I don’t read sheet music very well. But I’ve spent years thinking about how music works, and I like explaining what I do.

I add a new post to this substack every time I release a song, explaining how it was written, recorded and produced. I geek out on writing about the details of music theory, grooves, rhythm, lyrics, mixing, artwork. If you like that sort of thing, you might find all of this interesting, which would be good. And if you don’t like it, that’s also good. The internet is a big place; there’s room for almost anything.

Whenever I quote a song (mine or anyone else’s) I’ll try and include a link to it on Spotify and YouTube. There are, of course, many other music services, but those two are amongst the most common, and the easiest to link to.

If you want to get new posts as they appear, you can subscribe. No pressure. Or you can buy me a coffee if you really like something I made.