About Far Away

Far Away is the tenth album released by Healey St. The music formula for this project is for the most part the same as some previous albums. There are eight songs: two covers with six originals, two of which are instrumentals. The difference here from previous projects is in the creation of the art, Nori created these amazing pieces while I was composing the music. She became a part of the song, her instrument being her brush. The ideas behind the album are difficult to explain but I'll try. The concept of people being like leaves falling from a tree, on a journey like angels with broken wings needing love and sharing their loneliness. That's all I can say, you all can interpret the rest. ​​​

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The beautiful album cover: The art for this album was created by the amazing artist Nori. Also, the seed of ideas for several of these songs came from a poem Nori had written. 

​Here you can get a closer look at her amazing art. 

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The album begins with:

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My My, Hey Hey- I did a slightly different take on this song, all acoustic guitars- four to be exact, no harmonica. This comes from one of my favorite Neil Young albums, "Rust Never Sleeps". I’ve always had a fondness for this song over the much heavier “Hey Hey, My My” especially as I got older. To me this song is about making the most of your time here on Earth and to leave something behind when you’re gone. I realize there’s a direct connection in the lyrics to Elvis and the Sex Pistols that kinda refers to this in a darker way and then there's the Kurt Cobain's suicide note but to me it’s a kinship to survival. One way or the other. The clouds are real clouds, I took advantage of a storm and video taped them, sometimes they look like a painting. God using finger paints. Stay safe and be kind.

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Falling Leaves- Pretty much everything I said uptop, you guys will need to figure out the rest.

Days and Days- Nori did this amazing painting. It is the view of the ocean from behind a fence. The ocean is roaring in the background, silly fence can't hold back the ocean, the ocean is wild and free. Sorry, that's enough I think..

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Angels- This piece is different than the rest in this project, Nori had created the art after she had listened to the album. I called it Angels because in my mind there were two, one dark and one light on a journey. I never told her that but she heard it in the song. This is a difficult thing to explain, Jung believed that synchronicities were evidence of a unifying consciousness at play in the universe. Maybe, he’s right??

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Far Away- When I first wrote this song it was intended to be about how we have disconnected ourselves from ourselves because of technology and the lack of being able to express how we feel about each other. How we hide behind our screens. It kind of evolved into a song about lost love. Hope you like the song and love Nori's art. As always, stay safe and be strong.

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I Got a Name- One of my favorites from Jim Croce. Most people don’t realize that this song was written by Gimbel and Fox and not Jim Croce, Jim put his spin on it in 1973. It was released as a single the day after the tragic plane crash that took his life. The song to me is a sort of requiem on how he lived his life the way he wanted. Something I think we all want but sometimes can’t have, for the record company to release this single the day after his death just shows how little control we can truly have. I had originally thought of doing this video using my commute to work, with the side of trucks for the lyrics but Nori sent me this beautiful piece after listening to the song. I thought of how brilliantly she had captured the meaning that I just wanted her piece to be the focus. Maybe you'll see the other video with another song, mostly likely not. Hope you enjoy our version, stay safe and be strong.

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Nori's Song- This song I wrote for Nori.

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Snow Trees- I wrote this about two realities, how great it was when we were kids and how now as adults we need to find our way to that same joy. How even with everything we are up against everyday there's still that glimmer of optimism.

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