A few days ago, we announced this mini-season with my friend Elyse Blennerhassett. The title of ‘From My Eyes’ will very much be about the lives and passage of time that Elyse has witnessed while working in Amman, Jordan. That work has been documenting the impact that genocide has gravely affected both Jordan and Palestine and the realities of the people who have been displaced over 80+ years. This first episode you’re about to hear is a mixture of things, both an introduction to Elyse and the general “why” behind this project.

We mention it amongst ourselves, but as artists, we have an innate duty to document the times we’re living in. To tell stories of those who are marginalized by society and listen to those stories with open hearts. This is the first of five conversations I had with Elyse (intro song is Pale Cerule by Ajwaa).

Welcome to From My Eyes, a new mini-season of the podcast featuring Elyse Blennerhassett. Elyse is a documentarian and writer (she has worked with NPR, TED, BBC, etc.).

From My Eyes is a series of talks I’ve had with Elyse about her time in Amman, Jordan, where she documented the impact of genocide that’s transpired in Palestine for 80+ years and the realities of people who have been displaced by genocide. Our first conversation will be out on Thursday, January 9th.

Be sure to follow Elyse over on Instagram at betweenthebranches and to visit her website to learn more about her and her works (intro song is Pale Cerule by Ajwaa).

Even though season 8 has just wrapped, I do have one more talk to share with you this year and it’s with an old friend mine that deeply inspires me, James Vincent McMorrow. He was my season finale guest way back in season 1 and it’s funny, though he is a musician, it always feels silly to only call him that. Yes, he is a prolific songwriter, a producer and an esteemed performer, but James is also a deep thinker. That aspect of his character seeps into everything that he does, both on stage and off.

At the risk of sounding dramatic, it has become exceedingly more important than ever that we strive to learn from others. People who’ve lived different lives than us, people who’ve had different upbringings, people who have different points of view and aspirations in life. The vitality of learning from others is what has driven this podcast since day 1 and knowing that it’s connected with so many people around the globe….well that truly means the world to me.

In many ways, James journey as an artist evokes these sentiments; where the most important thing for him to do is to connect with people. For James, the best way to achieve that has been music and more importantly, crafting music in his own way; not in a way that’s dictated by algorithms. It’s obvious that this is what led to the creation of his latest album, Wide Open, Horses and in typical JVM fashion; it’s the kind of album you think you can put into a box, only for it to break the corners of that box in a ferocious fashion. It’s an absolute privilege getting to welcome him back on the podcast. Like he said the first time around “fuck these boxes that people try to place us in.”

Someone that comes up near the tail end of the talk is our dear friend Eoin French (aka Talos), who we sadly lost last summer. Eoin’s family are releasing the remainder of music that he made, with the recent release being a beautiful collection of songs called Sun Divider. You can find it on all streaming platforms. Suaimhneas síoraí, a chara.