Pas de Deux

Story time. A few years ago, back when I was trying to get my PhD in Lisbon, a pandemic decided to hit. I won't bore you with the details, I'm sure we all have stories about that. But trying to avoid going insane, I decided to create a character. That's when DoctorBlackstone was born. The first incarnation of what today has become one of the hobbies I cherish the most.

Not long after, on a sunny afternoon, I was sitting with a friend at a Beer Garden. After way too many "Caipirinhas", I made a decision that would in many ways change my life. I decided to actually try and learn music.

30 minutes later I was at a music store buying an Alto Saxophone.

By that point I had never played a saxophone. I had never held a saxophone. I had never even seen one up close.

Now, you may ask, why a saxophone? Real answer? No idea.

All I know is that throughout my entire life I loved to hear saxophones in songs.

That led me to Sax Lessons. That led me to Jazz. That led me to studying Music. That led me to studying Music Production. That led me to Theater. Yes, Theater.

And then, years of bad posture from working in IT, plus the weight of the Saxophone around my neck, resulted in a joint effusion in my lower back, and 5 out of 7 problematic vertebrae in my neck as a cherry on top. That forced me to stop Theater, and to stop playing the Saxophone. That's when producing AI Music came into play.

That first incarnation of DoctorBlackstone was inspired by "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", and that's something I carry to this day.

When I was working on Experiment #19117 (Claire), I had the idea for this one. Somewhere between those 292 rounds I heard something French coming out of it. I decided to explore it, and 531 rounds later, "Pas de Deux" was born. As for the Saxophone, I did really try to use it on this song, but the song only clicked when the Trumpet replaced the sax. The song wanted to be what it wanted to be. I had to get my personal preference out of the equation.

Despite the name, this isn't about dancing with someone else.

"Pas de Deux" is about dancing with different sides of myself.

It's about dancing with my own ego. It's about dancing with my own demons. It's about the dance between my career and a hobby that I love.

It's about not wanting the night to end so I can work just 10 more minutes on a song.

It's about the dance between life and death.