Me

What do you want to know?

Hey,

I'm Chris.

I write songs. I write reflections. I start conversations.

This site is not a portfolio or a brand machine or 5 easy steps to fulfillment. It is a map I’m writing in real-time with a focus on the present moment that’s often torn between where I’ve been and where I want to go.

For years I lived inside a familiar story of ‘success’. High performance. Strategy. Leadership. The outside looked solid. The inside ran on pressure, anxiety, and a quiet sense that I had drifted far from my own curiosity.

Burnout forced a pause even if everything from the outside kept going better than ever.

Around that same time I learned something that reframed much of my life. I have ADHD. Not a flaw to fix… rather, a pattern to understand, nourish, and unlock.

A mind that moves fast, jumps wide, and notices strange connections.

Music returned during that season and its been an exciting way to share.

I never managed to keep a traditional journal. In fact, I just donated all of my old half-finished journals to my paper-hungry kids to complete with their own sketches, comics, and stories.

For me, I’ve found songs work better. It allows me to convey so much more without getting bogged down in my own complexities. I find some of my thoughts, that may seem cliche if simply read aloud, land so much harder when I add emotive layers that only a medium like music can provide.

I call it journalpop. Music that reads like a diary set to melody. It’s messy, imperfect and in-the-moment. Not trying to be ’excellent’ or great or follow a proven path… but simply document, share, connect and with time… grow through experience rather external expectations or guardrails.

Starting here, with music, the rest has flowed so much more naturally than before.

Musings are reflections from the trail. (Yeah, I know… it’s a blog. lol) These are thoughts about creativity, leadership, technology, and whatever else has captured my curiosity. Right now, that’s navigating this new world of conversational machines in a way that amplifies human intelligence rather than replacing it. It’s as messy and chaotic as living with ADHD and I kinda love that our wild minds seem so perfect for shaping it rather than being shaped by it. 😄

Mayhem is where the exploration becomes social. Talks, collaborations, podcasts, and experiments where ideas collide with other curious minds. I’m just starting out here on the personal side. I’ve done a lot of these through my ‘day job’ in global strategy and while I’ve always sought to bring my authentic self to this I don’t want to trade on that attention for this personal journey.

Me. I am exploring. Sharing. Progressing. Failing. Learning.

I am trying to map more than make.

Mapping means paying attention. Recording what works in a way that inspires and nourishes me rather than shames or burns out. Noticing where the terrain shifts. Leaving markers behind in case they help someone else walking a similar path (or just want an alternative to Netflix for an hour or so. 😉)

So… I’m sure some of the songs will land with you as I’m casting a wide net in what I explore and share. But that also means some will not and that is actually a good thing. My hope is that each song will give you something to reflect on in the very least so you can see for yourself which ideas hold up and which ones collapse under better thinking.

That is part of the process. Part of the genre of JournalPop and I hope you will contribute by sharing back any expressions you might have as result - whether its a song, sonnet, or (yes, Sean) a spreadsheet. Art is expression and that doesn’t have to be ‘good‘ or even understood by anyone other than you. (Tho there is a magic that simply can’t be replicated by any other effort when it is.)

Are you Irish? American? A robot?

I grew up in the United States and now live in Dublin with my family. Living abroad has been one of the most perspective-shifting experiences of my life. Different cultures have a way of revealing your assumptions.

By day I work in strategy and innovation. By night and weekend I chase ideas through music, writing, and conversation.

And no, I’m not a robot. (And I don’t pretend to be anymore, lol.)

Human. Wild mind and all. I need rest and recharge. Most of all, I need meaning.

What is your creative process?

Follow curiosity.

When hyperfocus shows up, I ride it as far as it wants to go. The difference now is that I leave a lifeline back to reality so I don’t burn out again. Family, coaching, counseling, and a few frameworks I’ve built for myself help me stay grounded.

I also resonate with Rick Rubin’s view of creativity. Art is something we tap into rather than manufacture. If we don’t create it, someone else will. When we do create it, our perspective becomes part of the work.

That’s one of the most human things we can do no matter what tools we are using.

My process for music is extremely DIY. I played instruments growing up (alto-sax, bassoon, and percussion mostly) and sang in a band or two in college, so I know enough music theory and stage presence to be dangerous.

Not enough to be the go-to “guitar guy.”

That gap used to stop me. Now it doesn’t.

New generative music tools help me explore ideas faster and focus on the parts of music that matter most to me, storytelling, emotion, lyrics, and voice.

Still, nothing replaces live performance and human post-production. Every track you hear uses my vocals and is mixed by me personally in Logic Pro. I spend a lot of time shaping songs so they feel meaningful rather than simply polished.

And while I love collaborating with musicians, right now my creative rhythm has to live alongside family life and a day job. Again, I used to see this as a barrier to me expressing myself musically but now I’ve come to appreciate that it shapes the music more than my talent or chosen genre ever could.

Do you use generative AI or ‘machines’ in your music?

Yes. Generative tools are part of my creative toolkit. They help me sketch ideas quickly, explore sounds, and push past traditional barriers a solo artist faces.

I’m a near total outsider to the music industry so admittedly I don’t really know how much professional producers and songwriters are using generative AI in their own processes but I suspect it’s a lot more prevalent the more I learn about post-production and mixing.

I’m absolutely still learning so this may be obsolete by the time you read this as I adopt new practices and learn new ways of working.

As of now, I have a few commonalities that exist across all of my current songs:

I write the lyrics. I record my own vocals. I shape the emotional direction of the music. I’ll set tempo, key, arrangement, etc. In many cases, I have a nearly fully formed song with several parts and melodies mapped out before I engage various tools to help generate possibilities and more professional stems, and I choose what becomes the song from there.

Does this replace musicians? For me? No. The opposite actually.

I wouldn’t even be back in music if I didn’t have the ability to work on songs in a busy airport while my flight is delayed. I’d never have been inspired to develop my own voice further, taking weekly paid vocal lessons from a brilliant coach and working with other musicians for live ad-hoc performances that become an additional source of revenue for them not associated to a label or band they’ve committed to.

I also wouldn’t have invested an embarrassing amount of “hobby” money on production equipment, plugins, and instruments or time spent re-learning theory, harmonies, etc on top of how to finagle these generative tools into outputting what you want.

So for an indie artist seeking to express himself outside hustle culture and just enjoy ‘making music’ it is a process I am proud of and one I recognize is not for everyone.

That said, I hope more people adopt a similar approach. And I hope people listen to my music. Not to be “discovered” or to chase streams. Not to make music faster or easier, but to make music with more meaning. To not feel so bound to “the brand” or the band or what’s trending because that’s what ‘good musicians’ do.

Why share this journey publicly?

I know, right?

From a “commercial” perspective, I have plenty to lose. Privacy. Time. Critics. Emulators. Pressure to conform. The usual list for anything worth doing.

So why do it?

Well… why the hell not? 😎

Life is shorter than we think. It only exists in the present moment.

People talk about a loneliness epidemic. For me it feels more like a meaninglessness epidemic. I have more conversations than ever, both in person and online. Connection is not the problem.

Presence is.

When I show up curious, express myself honestly, and invite the other person to do the same, something shifts. The interaction becomes alive. Not content. Not networking. A real exchange that has meaning.

So I’m writing songs, essays, and experiments in public.

Partly to think more clearly.

Partly to document the path while I walk it.

Mostly to shape a space where conversations and collaborations can happen with people exploring similar questions.

Creativity. Technology. Leadership. Meaning. Life.

If you’re asking those questions too, well met! Let’s shape some chaos together.