I don’t want to overstate and generalize as I’m speaking from my own perspective. I’m not sure whether my feelings are shared by most people or are unique to me. I think the world is very chaotic, or rather we’re unable to comprehend the order that the world adheres to. In order to not be overwhelmed by the complexity of the world, we tend to simplify and categorize creating the perception of order. I think genre is a byproduct of that need.

Genres are groupings of music that share certain characteristics. I think there are some songs that exemplify those characteristics and really represent their respective genres, but there are other songs that draw from multiple genres. Even then I like to imagine a space or overlap similar to a venn diagram between two genres that acts almost as a third genre for songs to fit into. The only problem with this is I know songs that have elements of metal, punk, rock, blues and jazz all in one song. Where exactly does that song fit? Where does the band who plays that song fit? Do they shift genres depending on the song or album you talk about?

I play music and people always want to categorize me to better understand what I’m going for. What bands do you sound like? What genre do you want to play? Really when I’m writing it depends on my mood. I’ll write very ambient soundscapey ideas, mellow acoustic music or something heavier with punk or metal roots. Maybe to an outside listener, my music all has my own stamp or style to it no matter what genres I transcend. When it comes to my own stuff, I stopped trying to categorize or understand and just play and enjoy the music I make.