I think of Joni in the bar light
№56 — Joni (demo)
organizing an accident is a once-weekly newsletter where I leak home demos of unreleased songs, first draft lyrics, thoughts on the creative process, and dispatches from music life in Paris.
Listen to “Joni” (demo):
This song was written on September 18, 2019
I wrote this song during the last week I lived in New York City.
Our apartment and all its contents had already been packed and shipped to Paris, alongside Janis and our cat, Caillou. But I had another two weeks left of work and concerts (at Mercury Lounge and National Sawdust, to wax nostalgic) before joining them.
I spent those remaining days sleeping on various friends' couches, eating through the five boroughs like I'd never return, and writing music every morning at my place of work, a music school in Gowanus.
While this final, transitory period in the city I’d called home lost its appeal after a time, I look back fondly on my slow exit. It was a time marked by tides of change, a memory sealed with the constructive instability that preludes growth, and deeply present moments between friends that inscribe lifelong bonds into wet cement.
This song, conversely, goes out to fleeting encounters with people inside East Village bars, whom I didn’t know then and will never know now. ◍
From the vault
What I’m listening to this week
Rick Rubin - The Creative Act: A Way of Being (Audiobook)
What I’ve been reading
Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
You can pay a visit to my previous demos and writing via the Substack archive + find my official music releases on Spotify, Apple, or your platform of choice. Stalk me across socials at @thisryanegan.
With love,
Ryan
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