“People on the spectrum have profoundly influenced all art forms, and classical music is no exception. One of those influential people is Tim Arnold.”
This quote is from a new article in an American blog called Of Note and the article is called: Autism Acceptance Month: A Spotlight on Tim Arnold.
It has blown my mind and healed a part of my heart. I want to thank WDAV Classical Radio for this unexpected and beautiful appreciation of my work. First of all, I found this yesterday because my Facebook page had been tagged. I knew nothing about it before. My attention was first drawn to it being about Autism Acceptance Month. That made sense. Since talking about my autism in public, I’ve had several interviews on the subject – something I’m keen to share, to keep opening the conversation on ‘thinking differently’, ever wider.
So I was very happy to discover this article. But it was incredible to then discover the publication also chose to spotlight the one album in my canon of work that matters to me the most: Sonnet 155. An album that, for 14 years, I haven’t ever really understood why fate didn’t put the wind in its sails, in the way I always hoped and believed it would. I often wonder “Is it because I put the best song at the end of the album?” “Is it because the first track is an instrumental?”. I got used to it over time, but today it became clear that I had never really healed from the disappointment. Until now.
“A collection of songs about today and tomorrow inspired by Tim’s own experience and the creativity of a man writing 400 years ago” - Michael Attenborough CBE
Sonnet 155
Produced by Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Feeder) and created by fusing my indie rock self with my classical music-led childhood, Sonnet 155 was a real labour of love. I completed the lyrics for all the songs by using the Burroughs cut-up technique from letters that Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi and other luminaries of British theatre had all written to me, after I wrote to them. No, I didn’t know them when I wrote to them. I had just dreamt about working with them all, but had no position, representation, or means to do so. So I wrote them letters instead. As you do!
Alongside Super Connected, Sonnet 155 is (for me), the most accomplished collection of songs to have ever found their way out of me, and been recorded. These are songs I love, that really loved me back like no others, until the Super Connected album.
Supporters that know this album will know what this article will mean to me.
Whilst I may not have the industrial infrastructure to reach the kind of audiences that Sonnet 155 was so clearly beamed down to earth for, it has healed a part of my heart to know that an American publication (in a part of America I have never been to), found this album and understood the artistic journey I went on to bring Sonnet 155 into being. I have no idea how they discovered my work, but I shall find out!
It’s always been a mystery to me to present a new album every year to almost every manager, agent and record label in London for over two decades, without ever walking off into the sunset with any of them. Going on like that for 20 years has given me both cognitive distortion AND resilience. I have never promoted an album for more than 3 months. That was a luxury I could never afford.
But I have been lucky in other ways that have brought magic and wonder into my life. And musicians I know who do enjoy the convention of having managers, agents and publishers inside the industry, often remark that they’d trade their industrial setup for my Bohemian freedom any day. They call it Bohemian. I call it not owning a home! Either way, it’s made art my life, rather than a profession.
I found a way to do what I love! And now I have the support of the Arts Council and Help Musicians who provide the assistance that my autistic, innumerate, troubled brain needs, to complete the realisation of my work.
But this article made me realise I hadn’t quiet got over the past promises of a ‘conventional path’ through popular music. It also made me realise that there’s more classical and rock music in the Sonnet 155 album than pop!
This has absolutely made my year, and I am thrilled that it is partly down to celebrating my autism, without which, the article might not have come into being.
Being Different, Rocks
However hard it is to celebrate the truth of who we are and how much we are worth in this world, time will always give our future the gift that the past could not.
To everyone who has felt different, unfairly treated or overlooked at any point in their life, (especially my fellow creative friends), you are mighty and your art is beautiful.
At the end of the day, we may look outward to find validation (I know I have). But if there’s a hole inside us that needs to be filled, it can only truly be filled by what we already have, or what we learn to make, inside ourselves.
And if you find yourself doing that kind of ‘self-work’ for the rest of your life, there’s nothing wrong in celebrating a pat on the back from the ‘great outside’ whenever it does come along.
Thank you ‘Of Note’. My broken bits are shining brightly back together today.
Tim Arnold, 19th April 2024
Read ‘On Note’s Autism Acceptance Month: A Spotlight on Tim Arnold here.