Ivory Stone |"Music Is a Higher revelation than all Wisdom and Philosophy"

"Music was my first love“: John Miles sang it, echoed by countless others - it certainly holds true for me. I was seven when my parents finally gave in to my incessant begging and first let me have piano lessons. And just like that, the one true constant of my life manifested itself.

My family relocated to Russia around that time. I didn’t speak the language and we had left all that was known and beloved behind. As a timid little kid with my head in the clouds, truly a stranger in Moscow, I grabbed hold of music and never let go.

I started with classical piano, and was enchanted with the finesse of Liszt, the complexity and depth of Bach and Beethoven, and the ease and melancholy of Ravel and Debussy, before moving to more contemporary pop styles in my teens. I had always sung in church choirs and modern vocal ensembles (my mother is a Jazz singer and gently encouraged this), but didn’t see my voice as an instrument or really as anything significant at all. I wrote songs, yes, but had no intention of ever singing them myself or in front of people. However, over time my focus gradually shifted, and although I still see myself as more of a musician than as a conventional singer, I ended up finishing my degree in Popular Music with Vocals as my main subject.

Then last year, I set out to produce my first record and tried to bring together all of the different musical styles that have influenced me over the years. I think you can hear my love for classical music, as well as my adoration for vocalists like Beyonce and Adele, or the songwriting of Alicia Keys. My musical tastes are an eclectic mix ranging from classical music to pop, jazz and folk, which translates into my songwriting and musical voice. It’s an amalgamation, a little bit of everything, with a personal touch that I like to call Sophisticated Pop. The EP "In My Dreams“ is a result of that work - six songs to take you out of yourself and into the soundscapes, the emotions, the stories. For me, they are songs to live and breathe and cry to, songs to dream and call home; and I hope they can be that for others, too.

Ludwig van Beethoven, arguably one of the most recognized composers of all time, reportedly said "Music is a higher revelation than all Wisdom and Philosophy“. My own approach has always been very personal, one of isolation and escapism: I played when I was happy; I played when I was sad. Music is still my refuge and my outlet; it connects me to the heavens, it keeps me close to the ground. It is a constant source of joy and relief and is such an integral part of who I am that I can no other.

I believe that music, when done right, when played with all your strength of passion, is the purest connection to divinity. It’s an elusive spark of something you can’t quite describe. But you hear it, you feel it, it goes through and through your heart, evoking emotions and memories alike. At the end of the day I want to explore what it means to be human, what it means to feel and hurt and live. It can be quiet, melancholic and sad. But I want to make music that, to quote Terry Pratchett, "wave[s] its sadness like a battle flag“.