Welcome to Voice Seeker, I’m your host, Dandelion Lakewood. In this episode, I sat down with songwriter, composer, and performer Gracie Caggiano. We cover a broad spectrum of topics including perfectionism, suffering, joy, death, poetry, perspective, and life as an artist with a disability. You will have an opportunity to hear some of Gracies original compositions throughout the episode. The recording quality fits the conversation about imperfection, it’s a bit noisy, you can hear the echo of the room and Gracie’s upstairs neighbors stomping around sometimes. Listening through the foggy lens of those flaws, you will hopefully discover some gems in our conversation. (00:00:00) Psalm of Recognition (00:01:03) Introduction (00:01:48) Beginnings, journals as a living document (00:08:40) Sad girl starter pack (00:10:01) Omniscient algorithms (00:10:35) Adrienne Lenker and the value of imperfect aesthetics (00:17:40) The elusive "perfect version" (00:26:50) After I die, what's going to happen to my music? (00:30:45) The value of creative work (00:34:48) How to market authenticity (00:41:11) How many artists actually live off of their creative work? (00:47:00) The making of an album (00:58:30) The element of surprise (01:01:50) Musical influences (01:06:35) Listening to music as a musician (01:15:46) Themes of decay and disability (01:15:05) Presence in grief (01:26:19) The poems of Mary Oliver (01: 28:18) Emily Dickenson (01:29:20) The inevitability of death (01:34:28) The Book of Delights (01:38:07) Positivity vs reality and the role of art in discourse (01:44:17) War, murder, and death (01:52:21) Intersectionality and artistic performance (02:01:33) Conceptual space making and community (02:08:23) Words to a future fan (02:09:21) Rilke's Book of a Monastic Life