Powered Up by Music

Without the company of music, I don’t think my book Power Up would exist; my brain craves the rhythm to creatively function. A few months ago, in the lead up to the publication of the book, I put together a Spotify playlist with a small collection of the hours and hours of music I listened to while writing. The playlist has been ready for months now, but I struggled to bring myself to share it. I have always loved music, and spend countless hours listening, or being there in person at live gigs and music festivals – but my music taste feels like a very personal thing, only shared if and when I feel at ease with someone.

I wonder why this is? Is it normal? And is it tied in with a reluctance to mix my ‘work’ life with my ‘private’ life? But these lines become very blurred the deeper I get into my career. My engineering engagement work – public speaking, writing, and so on – was once closely tucked away inside the ‘private’ life box as I worried that my work colleagues would view me as unprofessional (or some other negative trait) if they knew how much time I dedicated to these activities. As I changed roles over the years and interacted with more managers and leaders, I saw that some actually appreciated and even encouraged this.

Publishing a book that very much mixed my ‘work’ and ‘private’ life meant there was no longer anywhere to hide, and I now realise there is not much sense in this separation. I am an engineer, a professional in the energy sector who wants to be taken seriously, but I am also a human being who enjoys an eclectic mix of music!

This was a very roundabout way of saying here is a selection of the music that helped focus and fire up my brain into writing a book. I’m by no means an expert on music, I just listen and feel and I know that for writing, I need instrumental, high energy tunes. The playlist starts with a couple of tracks from Cavs, (Michael Cavanagh, the drummer from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard), some stuff from Too Many Zooz (a New York brass band), some psychedelic trance from Infected Mushroom, a bit of electronic music from Culprate, Bicep, Four Tet… and finishing with Aphex Twin. I hope others out there enjoy it!