phoenixfalling | (no subject)

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All too often Kim got lost in his own thoughts. Since his own thoughts were almost always of music, he found himself lost in the random soundtrack of his own life at times. Headphones in as he walked downtown it started with just a nod of his head and graduated to the tapping of his hands on his jeans to the beat of the music. A short time later and the rest of his body followed suit and he was half-dancing, half-walking along the street.

If he had been aware of it Kim would have been mortified. In his everyday life he did his best to not draw attention to himself. If he could be invisible, that would be awesome. Unfortunately that wasn't the sort of thing he was capable of.

He didn't even notice what was going on until he was rounding a corner on the street and almost ran into someone also turning the corner. Kim quickly skipped and spun out of the way to avoid the collision, feeling his stomach sink when he realized what he was doing.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," he said, pulling off his headphones and holding out a hand to steady the person he had almost run into. "I- I'm so sorry, I, uh, I wasn't looking where I was going."

[Be the person he almost bumped into or just witness him dance-walking down the street.]

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Wren is more laidback than he looks, but he suspects strongly that that's a level of niceness that will get the young man taken advantage of one of these days. "Well, I'm extra glad they seem to be in one piece, then." He shoulders the bag.

He laughs. "Nice. I haven't managed to catch a play in -- a long time, but my mother's a dancer, I grew up loving anything with costumes and a stage. Though I think I probably still look stupid in a club, my strengths are personally on the musical side of things."

"Yeah?" Kim asked, brightening a bit. While he could dance and was okay at it music was really his passion. Singing, playing, composing, mixing, any and all of it was what he really loved. Siren Cove didn't exactly have a really hot music scene though, which was unfortunate.

"What kinds are you into?"

Wren nods, relaxing immediately into talking about what he loves. "I love music, I taught myself guitar when I was little and haven't been able to stop since. I don't think I have one kind I like to listen to -- classical, orchestral, electronic, punk, noise, anything I can get my hands on - anything as long as it really reaches down inside you, you know? There's good and bad in every genre. The kind I make is mostly pretty synth-heavy, though. I like playing with found noise or seeing what instruments can do that you might not expect."

"Do you ever play here?" he asked. Kim loved listening and watching others play almost as much as he loved doing it himself. With all the different types of musics this guy liked Kim was willing to bet that he played some pretty interesting types of music.

"I know there are some open mic nights and stuff. We have some pretty talented musicians here."

"I haven't yet," Wren says, "but I'm sure it's a matter of time, I never go too long without finding myself an audience. It's been a little harder to get motivated since my band broke up." He smiles a little self deprecatingly. "That's a long, boring story. One that brought me here, though."

"I've heard this town is pretty famous for its music. It'd be nice to see what people are doing."

"I'm sorry about your band, that sucks."

While he had been the one to leave the band he still missed his friends in it. He still did some writing for them and would always keep in touch with them but when you toured so much with a group of people you either came to hate each other or grow really close.

"But I hope you get to play somewhere here. For such a small town we've got some famous residents in the arts."

"It does," Wren says, "but it happens. What doesn't kill us, et cetera et cetera." It hadn't been entirely against his will; it was more of a mutual breakup than being dumped. But it's not as though it doesn't still hurt. Enfants Sauvages have been his family for years. Friends, lovers, roommates; almost everything, and sometimes it was hard, but he just hadn't expected it to go like this. If anything, he'd expected it all to end in some massive dramatic blow-out rather than a slow cooling. Maybe that's the hardest part. And he really can't stop doing the relationship metaphors in his head. He's never had a relationship more important to him, and doubts he ever will.

But he's being stalwart about it: this could be good for him. It's been nice to not have to justify his musical decisions.

"Thank you." He smiles a little, amused privately. "Anyone I should have heard of?"

"Well, there's Corrine Flynn, everyone's heard of her, although she's known for acting," he said. Kim had actually taken a few summer rec center acting classes from her and had been mesmerized, even when she was just a teenager. Most of the musicians though were sirens of one kind or another who either had a natural affinity for music or just enjoyed that part of their heritage.

"My brother is on Broadway but you might not have heard of him. There are a few really good studio musicians that live here though, plus a few who are at the coffee shops and stuff and just 'mess around' in a way that makes you angry how good they are just messing around. What was your band?"

He nods in agreement. He'd heard the name Corrine Flynn tossed around conversation before he'd moved here, though he doesn't watch a lot of new movies, with the rare especially interesting exception. At the moment he's more amused by the apparent romantic drama between her and Will Cabot that being friends with Alex lets him comment on occasionally.

"I love theater," he says, "but I don't know that I'd recognize anyone's name, particularly, I'm not quite that kind of buff." He smiles at the description of people messing around; he's always intrigued and drawn in when someone has a lot of talent, but he supposes it could be jealousy-inducing. "We were called Enfants Sauvages?" he says, almost a question. "We sort of made a game out of trying to defy genre," he grins, "but, I think at last check people were calling us dark post-punk or something like that."

"Enfants Sauvages? I don't think I've heard of them," he said, although the name sounded kind of familiar. Maybe he'd heard someone recommend them before or heard a song by them once. Dark post-punk wasn't really his thing, although he was sure there was some good stuff out there.

"Can I find your stuff on the internet somewhere? Genre defying stuff can be really cool."

"Well, no time like the present," Wren says with a small grin. "I'm sure you can find it a lot of places on the internet," he says with a wry smile. "But if you're looking for a legal method, we've still got a website up at enfants-sauvages.com and you can get to streaming, videos, that sort of thing."

It's an odd feeling, to be so proud of something that isn't still his, exactly. He's allowed, though, he thinks.

"Definitely looking for the legal method," he said with a nod. Kim had never been a starving recording artist but he knew how hard people worked to record stuff and put it out there. He wondered if the guy would still get any royalties or anything.

"Hey, uh, if I give you my number will you text me if you perform somewhere?"

Wren nods with a pleased smile. Not the usual way he gets numbers and not one he'll object to at all. "Absolutely," he says, getting his phone out. "I'd love to hear what you think."

"I'll text you soon," Kim told him, rattling off his number for the other guy. It would also be really interesting to see what someone who was in an experimental band might do with a solo project, especially if it was just playing in a coffee shop or something. Wren seemed really creative.

"Do you think you'll ever start another band?"

"Great." He types it in, then pauses at the Contact screen. "I haven't gotten your name, I apologize - I'm Wren." He texts the number with a 'and now you have mine'.

He takes a breath and presses his lips together thoughtfully at that question, smiling tentatively. "On the one hand, it's a little soon to answer that. A little raw, still. But I know myself. I love performing, I love collaboration and playing off of other people. So probably, yes, eventually, if the opportunity came along."

Kim smiled as the guy texted him back. It was cool to have someone local as a contact who as also into music. Sometimes it was hard to geek about about your passions when you were so involved in them. Wren seemed like a guy he could really talk to though.

"That's good. I, uh, I just recently left my band. I loved them all but it just got to be so much and I wasn't sure if that's what I really wanted."

"It can be a lot," Wren says, though he personally can't imagine stopping, by choice. Even now, missing Rian and Lex and the ideas they used to bounce off each other, he's been writing nonstop. But then, he did ping a bit of recognition at this guy's face, and he doesn't think he got the same reaction, which might mean so much is a little more to him than it is to Wren. He doesn't keep up - sort of intentionally, as a way to try and keep his influences as pure as possible - with modern hit music. "Would I have heard of you? Your band, I mean?"

"Maybe," Kim said with a shrug. If the guy wasn't into mainstream music at all then there was a chance he wouldn't. A lot of people hated them because they were played on pop music stations. It didn't matter how good they were, if they were played alongside pop music they weren't worth anything.

"Phoenix Falling? They're still around, I still write for them I just don't play with them. Kind of a Brian Williams thing, I guess."

Oh.. Wren nods in recognition. He does intentionally remove himself from radio music when he's writing, which is most of the time, but it's more to try to remove himself from subtle influence, not really for a lack of appreciation for some of it. There's a difference, between music that's been sanitized, rewritten or handed off for the amusement of an unchallenged crowd, and music that's simply accessible or liked because it's good. It would be nearly impossible to keep up with press during the last few years without stumbling upon the name Phoenix Rising. From what he can recall, he's enjoyed their theatricality and harmonies. There's an ambition to it he can appreciate, even if it's not quite what he feels compelled to create himself.

"I won't say I'm a rabid fanboy," Wren says, smiling. "But I've heard of them." Pronouns get weird talking about bands and writing. "I've liked what I've heard. Living under a microscope not so much your thing?" he asks with a bit of a smile. Enfants Sauvages were never quite that level of famous, but it was still tiring being expected to be present for certain things, having people speculate on his life online or asked to dissect his own music.

"I didn't like being 'on' all the time," Kim admitted, flattered that the guy didn't think they were too bad. A lot of people thought they were too "pop" or at least too mainstream to actually be good. As if people liking them meant they weren't good. Didn't a lot of people like Mozart and Beethoven?

"Performing was fun and being a rock star was kind of a fun role but I didn't want to do it all the time. I just want to write and perform music, that's all."

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