MOMENTARY DECISIONS

The great Michael Manring returns with a new album, Small Moments, and explains the far-reaching philosophy beneath the music

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I’ve always loved the idea that being an artist is all about observing what’s happening in the society around you and responding in some meaningful way. I get the feeling this notion went out of style in the tumult of the 20th century and art became a kind of anything goes proposition, but I just can’t seem to let go of it. I have the privilege of travelling a good bit, seeing some interesting parts of the world and meeting lots of people. I’m not sure if I have any special perspective, but I always look for themes and patterns around me and those ideas motivate me in the creative process.

From what I can see, life in the early part of this still new century is increasingly technological and globally inter-connected, complex, and full of both possibilities and problems. It continues to be a time of dramatic new conceptions in physics, information, and philosophy of mind with remarkable implications for epistemology and society. I find these ideas recur in my thoughts and compositions as I try to make sense of the world around me, and they are reflected in Small Moments.