Empathy by Nick Rousseau

'Feel' is a reminder to allow yourself to experience negative feelings, because it’s what makes us human. Compositionally, this song features many moments of space and rest, and in lieu of a traditional solo section there’s a group improvisation over one chord. It’s a sort of sonic meditation as well as a musical dialogue between the three of us, playing empathetically to each other and giving each other the space to reflect on and respond to our ideas.

'Step' is a reflection of the unsteadiness of life, choosing our words carefully and watching our steps in order to welcome dialogue to learn about our fellow human beings. Rhythmically unsteady yet driving, if not careful this composition can easily fall apart, but upon successfully watching your step, it creates a forward pulsing groove and dance.

'Trust' is an emotional tightrope that we all deal with in society. This composition takes you on the journey of innocence, losing trust, and slowly attempting to regain that trust after being hurt.

'Equality' is a Dave Holland tune, and in 1995 (the year I was born) he released two versions of this tune off a record entitled Dream of the Elders, one instrumental and one with vocals (featuring Cassandra Wilson). The lyrics were a poem by Maya Angelou written in 1990, and I found them to be extremely deep. Growing up in the Kurt Cobain school of thought of intentional obscurity, I wanted to attempt to convey the same emotion and meaning of the poem without words through our instrumental trio rendition.

'Something In The Way' is a song near and dear to me off of Nirvana’s album Nevermind, and one of the darker songs on the album. The original recording was recorded with Cobain sitting on the couch of the control room, quietly singing and playing guitar while everyone in the room held their breaths, to capture an intimate moment. With little edits and no rehearsal (Tim Volozh, who played drums on this, even joked, “I didn’t study this one!” because I announced we would play this about ten minutes before we began recording), our arrangement was my attempt at recreating the spontaneous and intimate moment.

The Empathy suite is a reminder to feel, to be, to co-exist, and empathize with our fellow human beings. The trio recording contrasts some of my recent projects which feels overproduced (to me, at least) and is a clear documentation of a day in the studio with minimal editing or processing. There’s close mics in the room and in the especially intimate moments, even our breaths be heard. It’s a document of three like minded human beings trying to play and write music the way we wish the world to be like.

Nick is a guitarist and composer who seeks to bring thought provoking and emotionally compelling music to whomever he gets the pleasure of sharing with. Influenced by musicians from Wayne Shorter to Shai Maestro, The Beatles to Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters to Circa Survive, he attempts to utilize every part of his musical upbringing and style into his compositions and improvisations.

njrous.com
Instagram
YouTube