I have been composing instrumental music to tell stories for 20 years. The feedback I have received from my listeners over the years is a testament to how a person’s ears, heart or mind has a unique reaction to rhythms and melodies. With The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, the melding of music and written word offers an audience a deeper freedom to create their own emotional journey as they consume these evocative stories through the different mediums of the project. It’s almost like a visual and immersive documentary. I feel as if my compositions for the project accomplish this in their own way. 

The written word — be it in journalism or through song lyrics — helps frame a story and listener’s thoughts, where-in my instrumental works provide a way to visualize their own landscape as they listen. As I selected prose and ambient tracks and created my music around them, I realized each piece told a story about The Outlaw Ocean and communicated an aspect of life on Earth that everyone can relate to on some level. Using prose and ambient tracks, the musical expression can transplant a listener to a certain place. In the case of this book and project, I want each track to take the listener along with Ian to viscerally see, feel and experience every aspect of The Outlaw Ocean.

Stanton Lanier