Deep inside

What is deep? What does it mean in the context of music to be more specific?

As with almost all music-related subjects the answer is: It depends. Depth is not a scientific measure, it's a highly personal issue. To get a feeling of depth some people require lyrics, some people prefer instrumental music. Some find depth in complex music, while some get anxious from listening to the very same track. Some like it really simple while some others find simplicity boring,  unmusical and especially lacking any real depth.

It depends.

Which is why this topic is so difficult to write anything meaningful about. I've been consciously trying to avoid using the phrase deep house (until now that is) in my blog. It used to be a phrase that at least tried to mean something. Usually something like a Theo Parrish or a Larry Heard record. Nowadays it has lost it's meaning and is casually used with almost any four on the floor song that is somewhat mellower than a typical EDM banger. I try to avoid it and to honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of it in the first place. Just like intelligent dance music, deep house sounds quite pretentious and artificial. It tries to make it sound better than it actually is. It's only music, house music, that evokes certain kind of emotions in certain people. That's not a real, defined genre (not that defining genres is ever easy). It's all just house music to me. Some of it just happens to awaken deep emotions in me but there are no strict rules for what causes it, neither can you  make a repeatable formula out of it.

Typically, music that evokes deep, positive emotions in me is fairly mellow and moody, doesn't have a fast tempo and uses sounds that are smooth and soothing instead of harsh and abrasive.  Most of the time it's instrumental too, as lyrics often break the illusion of depth in a sense that you have to think and feel what an instrumental track is about, vocal tracks often announce what they are about in clear words. But, these are not rigid rules. Some fast music is quite deep to me, such as certain forms of drum & bass. Some lyrics are deep. Sometimes it can be quite aggressive even.  So, it's impossible to make a formula out of it,  not even in a house music context.

Which brings us to an important question: If you can't define it in any meaningful way, why bother to write about it at all? Well, first of all this blog is not about science, it's about my personal journey written from my own point of view so I write about whatever I feel like or what I think is somehow important or useful on my ambitious quest.

It's also very useful to think about these things, even if they don't lead to anything immediately useful and concrete. I had no idea what I wanted to write about the concept of depth, so I started to think about it and wrote down my thoughts. It was never something I was consciously thinking about, I just felt depth in some tracks and not in others, even if the tracks in question were quite similar.


I also didn't just babble about the subject and waste all day writing this! Thinking and expressing ideas in literal form is useful but I also wanted something concrete, a soundtrack for this blog post. I didn't want to use an existing track so I made my own instead. It's a bit of a sidestep as the track I made is very chill and relaxed, not necessarily something that Kerri might play at peaktime hours. However, it was an useful exercise and I learned a few new tricks, so it was in no way time wasted.

Whether it's deep or not is impossible to say. As I said, depth is a very personal thing. You be the judge.