This week marks four years that I’ve spent making music as Mount Everest, four years of never missing a Monday, of writing music all the time. 208 is a lot of songs. After all, four years is nearly five years! Isn’t that something? When I hit an anniversary, I usually take stock, and this year was no different. On airplanes and subways and interstate highways I have recently revisited much of the now daunting catalogue. There was a time when this undertaking was much easier. These days, I can never make it a quarter of the way through, so I skip around randomly sampling ideas that I used to have, and thoughts that I used to think.
One thing really struck me this time. I’m always writing about how old I’m getting. To be clear, at 29 I am literally not old. It’s probably a function of such a linearly autobiographical project that I keep returning to this concept of aging. Watching the weeks tick by on this website, it’s no wonder I start to feel more than my age. The problem is that I am writing about my life like it’s over, when it has barely even started. This song attempts to redress that error of perspective. It has taken a year that has represented seismic beginnings in my life to recognize that this concept that my youth is behind me is a big trick I’ve been playing on myself. Sure, I’m not getting any younger, but youth is a perspective I’m not yet willing to cede to the next generation.
It is my custom to give you presents for Mount Everest’s birthday. If you click the link below, you will download a compilation of my favorite Mount Everest tracks from the past year.
www.jesselindsey.com/ME4.zip
It is a 23 track album; about an hour and twelve minutes of heartfelt thanks for lending me your ears, and (in many of your cases) your collaborative talents, your emotional support, your love, and your friendship. I love you all so much. It means the world to me that you come here to listen. Please come back next week as I kick of year five. The coming 12 months are shaping up to me monumental in my life, so anticipate sounds you’ve never heard!
released November 10, 2014