Cloudless Sky - A Chamber Pop Song to Inspire a Meditative Mindset

My latest single release ‘Cloudless Sky’ is chamber pop song I wrote maybe a decade ago?!?

My creativity was driven by practical motivation to combine a song that inspires a meditative mind with easy to learn/repetitive chord progression.

In theory, I could just mention these 5 chords in Cmin + a short bridge that sits on 2 chords (musician could lay out here if they wanted) And voila, anyone can jam out on this song even having never heard of it before. Since I was frequenting many jams/open mics playing solo piano at the time, this would invite more collaboration with little barrier to entry. If you are musician, you catch my drift. 

Furthermore, the simplicity of the chord structure and repetitive nature of the song would ease the conscious mind into the deep and soothing land of Theta waves (theoretically); as folk music has done for eons all over the globe. Hearing too much jazz made me hungry for this. With complicated harmonic rhythm and off putting rhythmic patters, modern jazz appeals too much to the intellect. The musicians are challenged to keep you guessing what’s coming next, but never quite comfortable in a groove. Hence Cloudless sky was born from my need for tranquility in an overly stimulated NYC jazz scene. 

The lyrics – that's a whole different story. It's been so long now since that wrote them that I’m hazy on the how and why I wrote them. Most likely it was stream of consciousness poetry that I set it to music later. 85% of the time, that’s my songwriting process. But all I can report now for sure is what I vaguely remember from those Brooklyn days. Seems like another strange dimension that I don’t like to think about much since it went sideways. And perhaps more interesting is how the song hits me today anyways?

But first the short Brooklyn backstory -

I was working at the Brooklyn Conservatory when I composed it on one of their pianos, waiting for a late student who never showed up. It’s one of the ONLY small perks to being a music teacher; time paid to just practice and compose on real and well tuned pianos. With nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, it’s the best way to get practice and composing time in your routine. 

Next, I have a memory of telling a jazz guitarist about the song on the F Train just after I completed the song. I had run into him randomly but I had known him for years from the jam at Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. 

He was an excellent guitarist though not the most social guy. Or at least that’s how I assessed him I prattled on and on in an attempt to make conversation. Like many jazz musicians, he wasn’t doing music because he wanted the attention as an extrovert, social butterfly as is musicians in many other genres. But perhaps guitar had become central to his existence because it was his only way to communicate?

Sidenote: Also like many jazz musicians, he had taken a side job to make ends meet and he had only recently become an admin at the Brooklyn Conservatory. Many, many serious musician never want to, nor have the talent to be a teacher. But no matter how good they are, more and more have been forced to take jobs (such as uber eats drivers) to pay for their meager lifestyles while living for the late night hours and hours of jazz. The dedication I saw as standard issue for these cats verses the reward received for their hard work always broke my heart. Since I haven't been back to Brooklyn or those jams much in the past 5 years, I wonder how many are still in the game? I now a few of the best players have gone on to 9-5’s by now.

Back to the F train, I remember clearly talking about the concept of a Cloudless Sky. I remember the expression on his face like why are you telling me all this? He was trying to care, but didnt. Perhaps he had all his own songs to think of on that train ride. Those were still in my days of my oversharing. Something I'm still prone to do when I'm had too much coffee. And perhaps that’s happening right now? :)

Having composed it on a Conservatory REAL piano, it's a piano centric pop song. One meant to be complete even with out any guitar. That's how I played it for a video project that PianoGroove did for me. That video can be seen here...

But on the album I'm releasing in June, I Dared, it was the one piece that Colin Hua and I agreed should a solo piano and voice in the arrangment. I tend to have one like that on all my albums and all my live shows, since so often that's how I'm playing both in public and in private.

He did add the perfect touch of strings to bring out the soothing quality I sing about...

“The Cloudless Sky it Sooths me with it's shades of Blue...”

So what do they mean? Why did I wrote those lyrics?

Both then it and now, it comes from motivatation to inspire a meditative mind. But I'll say that what that means has changed in the past decade for me, as well as SO many aspects of my identity that I find a whole different level of meaning than I what I intended.

What hasn't changed is the metaphor of the Clouds passing by being symbolic for thoughts, moods, patterns, & identites that seem so real but in reality are just illusions. They look solid but as you hold them in the light of your consciousness you realize they are made of only of a mist. 

What is the constant is the blue sky behind the clouds that might be hidden, obscured but never changed.

We are wiser to identify more with this grand the blue sky, than to fix our focus on the impermanent clouds that roll by.

In meditation, the technique would be to accept the clouds are there but don't attach to them. Just let them roll on by… 

Acknowledge, allow to pass by but don’t get frustrated if they stick around either. Keep your focus on the Blue Sky and eventually the clouds just stop and the sky finally goes cloudless. Then you can notice and unite with the hues, the silence, the expanse, the openness, the sense of safety. 

This is the magic of the cloudless sky – it's represents being present and fully unified. There is only peace and love in this state of mind. And it's easy to trust that so will the next moment and the next and the next... as the blue sky is eternal. 

I admit this metaphor is good one for me because I've always loved the color blue. So thinking of a blue cloudless sky helped emmensely in my own meditations back then. You don't need to over think the clouds. You don't need to worry about them, even when they form into storms and hurricanes. Why? Because you know they will always pass. It's temporary. Practicing this mindset will at some point lead you to the faith you need to weather any storm in metaphor or real life. That was the theory at least. 

But did it really help me to achieve this level of faith? 

Like most of the songs I write, they take on a life of their own once created. As I’ve continued to play this song for over a decade, I discovered a whole deeper layer than what I remember intending when I wrote the lyrics.

I believe this is in part why our own creativity is so valuable to our lives. Our soul/spirit communicates better to us through the use of music and symbols. When we spend time in authentic creation, following our intuition, we are connecting to something bigger than us. It unifies us to nature, to the earth, to the universe. These conversations can guide us from beyond time, reinforcing our faith in something beyond what we can know and predict: God. 

My own identity has shifted a great deal in the past 10 years, since I wrote that song – both on the outside and inside. The clouds have come to represent aspects of my identity that I've sent let float away or don’t identify strongly with anymore. 

My personality and life choices are more in line with an expanded, wholistic identity – the blue sky more than the clouds. I do believe this can happen naturally to us as we age. We see aspects of ourselves we thought we were rooted in but were revealed to be merely phases to grow through. But we must be willing to do the hard work of maturing. 

I believe this song can help. I've been able to change in ways that I dared not dream of back then. I've come to realize that the blue sky is far greater and much more mysterious than I can imagine, and yet it's familiar and trustworthy. I still can't hold it's vastness in my thoughts. It's so much bigger than me. And yet it is me... the familiar paradox is as far as my thoughts and words can share here, the song can take it further. 

Truthfully it still scares me to have to admit I don't know what the heck is going on in the world. I feel as though I know less now than ever! And it's terrifying to admit I've been wrong, lived a fake life based on fear, been programmed and on auto pilot due to unhealed trauma. This is the hard work of maturing though. 

The song works here to be a comfort in this work; to know the clouds are just misty illusion , no matter how solid they look. And so is that pain, trauma, fear - it’s nothing in comparison with the love waiting for you behind the clouds. 

While in this body, it's better to admit you just can't comprehend the full story here. And you most certainly can not control it. But you can walk in faith. You can begin to shift your identity to that cloudless sky and become impervious to the lies and storms of this life. 

Life it will surprise you (another song I wrote) but you can control where you put your focus and how you identify – with the passing clouds and storms, or with the powerful blue sky itself.

“who would I be if I were free, free of me?”

I’ve come to be able to answer this question for myself. Most of us find it just so very hard to let go of what we've known but I challenge to you to answer this question for yourself. I dedicate this song today to that divine purpose. 

I've since learned that meditation in and of itself won't offer all you'll need to for this journey, but alas that's the subject of next month's single; Mercy being released on 5/22/25. I’ve discovered so much Mercy in living the resurrection mindset and excited to share. 

In humility and love. 

Lyndol

Cloudless Sky by Lyndol Descant, Produced by Colin Hua

Released 4/22/25 - Earth Day 

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