why we love this

Jonathan Bockelmann’s guitar movements flow with graceful ease, a soft subtlety that mirrors fresh linen air-drying in a sun-kissed wind. An album of peaceful restoration.

about the record

Jonathan began writing Childish Mind after spending some time transcribing music by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work often sprawls out with airiness. He hadn’t composed before, but once he set his mind to it, it came easily, like something that had been built up inside of him over the course of his musical life. His inspirations come from composers like J.S. Bach, whose complex and emotionally resonant solo works have long been a mainstay of classical string repertoire, and Leo Brouwer, a Cuban guitarist and composer whose work finds a balance between virtuosic techniques and lovely melodies. By composing, Jonathan aims to add new ideas to the ever-evolving acoustic guitar repertoire, using his background as a starting point to help make new musical possibilities for the instrument.

He composed Childish Mind over the course of a year, often focusing on the types of melodies that have called to him throughout his career as a guitarist and since his youth. His composition process begins with a simple melody. He starts from that core motif, and then branches out, finding the rhythms and harmonies that might complement it. Nature is often an inspiration in his work, the idyllic natural world serving as a source of ideas for his playful, yet meditative sound.