Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to pour one cup, we will have your daily music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators.
Today’s soundtrack is curated by Doc Landry.
A physicist turned folk-pop artist, Doc Landry‘s music is inspired by universal and timeless themes. After discovering his voice and a passion for songwriting in his late 30s, Doc turned to producer Les Cooper (Craig Cardiff, Jill Barber, Meaghan Smith, David Myles) who most recently recorded his forthcoming EP, Axiom.
Inspired by Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving, Axiom will feature five songs each exploring a different perspective on love: romantic, self, parental, brotherly and spiritual. The first of which is “Paris State of Mind,” inspired by a trip taken with his wife to the City of Light, capturing the essence of Parisian romance.
The lyrics begin by reminiscing about well-known experiences, but slowly evolve as the song progresses to undress the listener by becoming more seductive and sultry. The violin and accordion highlights elicit the feeling of taking an evening stroll through the cobblestone streets of Paris with your lover.
Stream + share “Paris State of Mind” now:
I wanted to be a writer and filmmaker. I chose physics instead. It was safe and I got paid to study. After scoring a 158 on a Stanford Binet IQ test (if you trust those sort of things) my highschool guidance counselor told me that if I went into the arts I would be ‘wasting my potential’. I applied to an astrophysics program after high school at Saint Mary’s University and got in – a full scholarship no less. Having grown up in Dartmouth NS, the son of a powerline technician, a loving stay-at-home mother, and a member of two very large blue-collar families – a paid-for university education in science was the pragmatic and sensible choice to make.
Physics, science, and a career in medicine have served me well. But, for over two decades whenever I hear movie scores I still get goose bumps. I can’t help but wonder what a career in film would have been like. These days, as a father of three boys and an avid Marvel fan, these feelings of ‘what if’ are most potent when I hear The Avenger’s Theme. Mixed into my Spotify playlist, between John Mayer and Donovan Woods, this little gem of a movie score continues to lift my spirits and inspires me to be more heroic in my life choices.
Visual: Hall of Prisoners / Statue of David
I have long been silent about my own battle with mental health. At the present moment, I’m still not ready to share that story fully. It’s not a matter of being embarrassed or ashamed (in fact, I’m quite proud of my ongoing self-management). My reservation is that I’m still torn over whether my own variety of mental health (existential depression and dysthymia) is innate or a function of striving for continuous personal growth.
Located at the Accademia Gallery in Florence Italy is the Statue of David. David has long been revered by many as ‘the perfect man’. One interpretation of David is that he stands in quiet determined compilation the moment after he decides to go and slay the mighty Goliath. What struck me about David, however, was less the statue itself but rather the Hall of Prisoners that leads up to it. The Hall of Prisoners includes four other statues by Michelangelo all of which are incomplete. The prisoners are half liberated men still trapped by the marble who haven’t yet reached their full David-like potential. I imagined the prisoners, in their efforts to liberate themselves from the marble, to be a suffering lot. But, in their suffering, I also imagined them to be hopeful, inspired, and in David’s image, striving to become their fully actualized self.
Are growth and maturity the source of my mental health? I don’t know. But, as the marble falls away and I grow wiser and more resilient, I can’t help but wonder.
“Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.” – Alexis Carrel
Tea: Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. If Star Trek were real, I’d be Picard – no question. Only I’d the Nexus version – the Picard that chose to have a family instead of pursuing his ambitions as a Starfleet Captain. Now you know what it’ll be like when we meet. We can talk about music, physics, art, family, or film – whatever you like.
Tea + Me 