With gratitude.

Marking two years of Fog Chaser + a few updates

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

- Annie Dillard

Two years ago I released my first song as Fog Chaser, right here through this newsletter. As of last month, I have written and shared twenty-four pieces in all twenty-four musical keys (plus one bonus track).¹ Last month’s song, Beneath the Woodbine, marked the end of Volume II’s twelve new original instrumental songs and visuals.²

The most important thing I want to do to mark this anniversary is say thank you. For your support. For your kindness. For listening. For your touching comments. For your emails. Your shares and Notes. For being a part of this growing community. You are why I continue to do this, and it is an absolute privilege.

I haven’t yet read any Jon Fosse, the Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this month, but after being selected for the coveted prize he was asked what he hoped his readers got from his work, and I found his response modest but potent: “I hope they can find a kind of peace in, or from, my writing.”

This is also my hope for my work. I too wish that, for you listening to my songs, you find a kind of peace in them. That’s why this newsletter and your being here mean so much to me.

This print hangs above the desk in my studio. It’s called “I’ll be right here, waiting for the next time” by Graham Franciose.

Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or you’ve just signed up, I’m grateful for your time and attention. In the coming days, I’ll share a special post that will put everything from Volume II in one place for your listening convenience as I did last year for Volume I. And next month, I’ll send out the first song of Volume III. 

A space for respite.

res·pite (noun): a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.

Over the last two years, I have tried to cultivate a space for respite, both for you and for me, and I hope you have found, and continue to find, some refuge here.

I started this instrumental project in 2021 for a few reasons: to pursue an abiding dream of becoming a film composer; to combat some difficult mental health challenges I was facing as a result of two traumatic brain injuries; to create music that would embody and reflect the natural world here in the Pacific Northwest that inspires me; and to put into practice, and share in real time, what I’ve been learning in my film scoring, theory, and composition certificate program I’m enrolled in at Berklee College of Music online. I also love taking photos on film and craved a simple way to share these shots alongside my music. 

The process of writing these pieces every month is very meditative for me. I hope that what I send can, in turn, be calming and inspiring for you.

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Looking back.

I’m proud of how this project has evolved. We’ve now completed two volumes of original instrumental music:

1. Volume I: September 2021 - August 2022

   1. Archive

   2. Recap
      

2. Volume II: September 2022 - September 2023

   1. Archive

   2. Recap (coming soon)

   3. Bonus track

This past year was full of many high notes, including:

• Composing my first film score for

  Erika Bolstad
  ’s To Be Rich, a short documentary that serves as a companion to her wonderful book, Windfall. I had the honor of watching the film up on the big screen here in Portland during a local community cinema showcase last month. The film also shows next week as an official selection of the Green Film Festival of San Francisco.

• Providing the music for

  Taegan MacLean
  ’s latest
  One Word
  documentary, Woodbine, including an original song I wrote for the film.

• Scoring a novel — something I wasn’t sure was possible — right here on Substack for the writer

  Elle Griffin
  ’s latest novel, Oblivion.

• Collaborating with

  Infinite Noise Project
  on this ambient soundscape.

• Last, but certainly not least, welcoming our baby boy into the world.

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Looking ahead.

Announcing E X P L O R A T I O N S

Volume III: November 2023 - October 2024

Some changes are afoot! As we move forward, you can expect more high-quality music and visuals. My monthly series — let’s call it The Original™️ — will continue, and will still be free.

Where Volumes I and II were called Meditations, I’m calling Volume III Explorations. Like a lot of my work, the pieces will be inspired in part by place, meaning I will be traveling around to new locations when I can — literally, exploring — and I will also be taking more creative risks, exploring the boundaries of what I am capable of and interested in musically and sonically.

Volume III will contain twelve new songs and visuals inspired by/rooted in twelve geographic places. And, to keep with the theme of twelve, each piece will be written for twelve instruments — no more, no less.³

In the months ahead, I’ll be continuing my film scoring studies at Berklee and I’ll be taking part in some exciting collaborations — I can’t wait to share more about those in the future. And while all of my songs are shared here with you first, I’ll be releasing some of them on streaming platforms, like Spotify and Apple Music, so please be sure to follow along on your preferred platform.

New extras for paying subscribers

Beginning next month, Volume I will be archived and only paying subscribers will be able to listen to those songs and see those posts. Volume II will still be accessible to everyone through 2024.

Also starting in November, paying subscribers will get exclusive access to some new goodies:

1. The Score: A second song and post each month. These songs will be pieces I’ve written for film or other media that otherwise wouldn’t be heard. I’ll share one of these songs once each month in addition to the usual monthly post.

2. Morning Coffee Melodies: A new solo piano series. I’m also launching a solo piano series, which, just like it sounds, will be pieces I write just for piano. I’m not sure how often these will go out, but they will be simple, and fueled by caffeine. As opposed to what will be the maximalism of the monthly pieces for twelve instruments, these piano pieces will be exercises in minimalism.

3. The Fogcast: A quarterly podcast/film/multimedia series. I will share four short films featuring my music — either as collaborations with filmmakers or of my own making — over the course of the year.

If you enjoy what I’m doing here, it would mean so much if you would consider signing up for a paid subscription. You’ll get all the extras above, access to the growing archive, free downloads of any song you want, plus discounts on Foggy merch.

Each paid subscription is transformative: paid support helps me write my songs, learn new skills so I can become a better producer and composer, build my reel so I can find my next film score, and, in turn, invest in this newsletter to make it as great as it can be for you and for others.

If a paid subscription is not something you can pay for at this time, simply email me and I will give you one, no questions asked.

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With gratitude.

I love the community we’re building here. I’m so grateful to each of you for taking the time each month to listen, share, and connect. I’m humbled to have the opportunity to share my work with you in this intimate way.

Finally, I’d like to thank my family and friends for their monumental support over the last two years — I have relied heavily on their kindnesses and drawn frequently from their deep wells of generosity as this project got off the ground; I would be lost without them. I especially want to thank my wife — for her existence, mostly, but also for her tireless championing of my efforts here. She listens to every draft of every song (poor thing), reads every draft of every post (poor thing), acts as editor, proofreader, sounding board and strategist (poor thing), and offers so much invaluable insight. There is no way I could do this without her.

With that, the first post of Volume III will land in your inbox in November. In the meantime, you can expect a special recap of Volume II next week. As always, thank you for being here. I’m looking forward to sharing another year of music with you.

All my best,
Matt / Fog Chaser

1. For the first two volumes of this newsletter, I made my way around “the circle of fifths” in music, an ordering that places the most closely related key signatures next to one another in a visual format. This just provided a logical order for me to move in — following the well-traveled path of musicians before me who have written pieces in all 24 musical keys. 

2. I can't think of a better way to end the first two years of my project than to write my last piece for Taegan's latest short documentary Woodbine. Each installment of

One Word

is a masterpiece, and this video is no exception. cc: @Taegan MacLean

3. A series of a duodecets. My dream is for these pieces to someday be played live by an ensemble somewhere, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.