​It’s widely acknowledged that all art is inevitably autobiographical to some extent, produced as it is through our own selves. As creative artists, we musicians are inspired, motivated and always guided to a certain degree by our personal experiences.

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Music has always been an essential part of my own life, and, for me, the most powerful and effective lyrics are the ones that describe universal human emotions and feelings - longing, love, lust, desire, loss, heartbreak - whilst also seeming to portray situations that feel uncannily personal, so that listeners somehow find a version of themselves articulated by and reflected therein.  Many of us, I’m sure (myself included), have taken reassurance in feeling that we’re not alone in our bewilderment or despair, and from knowing that others have confronted and survived struggles like ours. There’s great comfort to be found in hearing songs that have a peculiar quality of being personally addressed to us.  

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I’ve been a songwriter and a musician for over 30 years now and am truly blessed to have written lyrics that have had these kinds of effects for some of the wonderful people who’ve invested their time, energy and money as listeners. I’ve been deeply moved over the years to hear first-hand that the songs I’ve co-created have provided solace and hope for other people, and have helped them to navigate and cope with difficult life transitions or emotionally painful experiences.

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Writing the lyrics for this new album operated on many of these levels for me. Significantly, it was an invaluable form of catharsis. I’ve been able to express my own account of having experienced narcissistic abuse in the context of intimate relationships, and to do so in a purely subjective and non-accusatory way. Perhaps most importantly, it allowed me to give a voice to my personal story of emotional healing and recovery. The writing and recording processes themselves enabled me to reconnect with my own strength and self-confidence, encouraged and supported by the fantastic team of music professionals with whom I have been lucky enough to work.

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Educating myself properly about narcissism and narcissistic abuse has been an important part of my recovery journey and, as an academic mental health care researcher, the topic is also an area of professional interest for me. Although awareness about narcissistic abuse and the havoc that it wreaks is - at last - improving, there’s still a long way to go. In collaborating with The Echo Society, I hope to be able to contribute to these improvements in some small way. I hope that The Science of Goodbye will enable listeners to recognise and make sense of their individual experiences, feel validated in doing so and, crucially, be empowered and adequately informed so that they can reach out and seek further help and support for themselves via signposts to the appropriate professional resources.

 

“After the rain, embers of delicate flames…”

 

Rachel Cohen

March 2020

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