It all began, as so many of the great works of art do, with Bastiodon.
Struggling for inspiration, experiencing an unprecedented case of songwriter’s block, musician Jacob Newman turned to the rock/steel fossil Pokémon for inspiration, and found his muse.
“As it developed, the theme of the song was: ‘Bastiodon is my least favorite character, but I still like it, because I love all Pokémon,’” the 24-year-old told Mashable. “I can use this as a metaphor for loving someone who is flawed quite heavily.”
And as anyone who has noticed the rising sun peeking through the living room curtains after a 12-hour Pokémon marathon knows, the lines between reality and the colourful Pokémon World soon became blurred.
It wasn’t long before Newman (who performs under the catchy stage name Jacob Norman Chainsaw-Arm) found himself in a song-writing spree… about Pokémon.
"I thought after a while: let me take a break from writing songs about Pokémon. I'm going to write about how I'm a klutz," he said. "I tried different recording techniques, and then I realized: There's a Pokémon that's whole thing is kind of being clumsy. I wrote a Pokémon song by accident."
Pennsylvania native Newman has now opened up his Pokédex of creativity, embarking on the quest to pen a song for each one of the 700 named Pokémon.
Already at the 100 mark, the musician has reached his first major milestone, though he bears the burden of his art with a heaviness of heart familiar to all great creators, from Paul Gaugin to Akira Kurosawa:
"It feels like King Midas’ curse. Everything I touch turns to Pokémon."
Follow Newman’s brave efforts on his Tumblr page, or listen to the fruits of his labours below.
[Images; Cody Egan]
