Hey, pat on the back if you got The Mountain Goats reference in the title. I’m taking a few moments to pen a post because tomorrow morning, at around 10:40am I’m taking what my elderly relative yesterday described as a ‘big step’, in the way that grandparents assign that sort of step into the unknown. That big step is moving from a somewhat small town in small England to a city in the substantially-sized United States Of America, that city being Columbus, situated in the state of Georgia. I’ll be there for probably five months or so, studying at the local University during a semester abroad-type deal, leaving Chichester / the UK behind temporarily. Writing it down some fourteen hours before catching my flight, it feels like a big step, and as ready as I feel to take it I’m also not entirely sure I’m ready at the same time. Three years ago, the idea of doing something like this would’ve likely left me scurrying away from the notion in fear, that’s the kind of person I was back then, but at 21 I think I’m up for it – I want to be anyway. Maybe I’m not ready, but doing it seems like a good way to find out.

I went to America once when I was around thirteen, and I remember it well, partly because I wore the same three Mayday Parade / Taking Back Sunday / Blink-182’s for the entirety of my three week stay (hopefully washing them somewhere along the way). I had A Lesson In Romantics (2007 Mayday record) on constant repeat almost, and the opening minute to Jamie All Over still brings to mind the scent of Hot Dogs wafting along the San Francisco coast. I remember how Kings Of Leon’s Because Of The Times sound-tracked a two day train ride cross-country, and how well it all seemed to fit with the sprawling red-brick countryside. Since then I’ve always wanted to go back, maybe not for six months, but in those three weeks we took in a good amount, and I wanted to take in more. Maybe it’s because of the music I listen to, the four bands above all being American, or maybe it’s because of the country itself – the general appeal of (most of) it. Maybe I just wanted to get away for a while and witness another change of scenery. I think that over the last few years primarily I’ve learnt a great deal about myself, about the kind of person I am, and I want to carry on learning, see how capable I actually am of doing the things I want to do. I think part of that started with this blog; the next step being University, the next being to find myself a home there. Now it’s time to look elsewhere, push myself more than I have been doing, to instigate the kind of changes I want to come about instead of waiting for them to spontaneously manifest themselves.

I don’t know what this transition means for this music blog, probably not a whole lot considering the inactivity of recent months. Maybe I’ll develop a profound love of southern country music and, in turn, the content of this site will take on a new and completely different direction – I doubt it though. Maybe I’ll write on here very rarely, and the idea of CraigReviewingMusic will become a thing of the past. At this point, I’d be okay with either option, and I suppose what really matters is that I’m excited about the future, more excited than I have been in a long time.

Thanks for reading, and for being here in the first place,
Craig