why

the only sound
was made for you to get uncomfortable.

the only sound was created to give a platform to the way mental health, stigmatized, and underrepresented experiences are processed in music.



There’s no doubt that talking about mental health publicly has faced challenges. While the music industry and society at large continues to make progress in addressing mental health, there is still a lot of work to do and questions to be asked to successfully chip away at societal barriers, reduce stigma, diversify our music beats, feel better, and save lives. How does someone with anxiety hear this song? How does this artist work through their own and familial trauma on this album? What would happen if we allowed music critics to talk more about their mental illnesses when writing about music?

The way we process our illnesses, identities, trauma, self care still isn’t getting the attention it deserves. The we of the music culture – artists, producers, critics, and, especially listeners – need time to dive deep into the way music is looked at through a mental health lens answer questions and have more conversations. It is necessary (even effective), and it won’t be comfortable.

the only sound was made for you to get uncomfortable.

How we live in the world, take in music, and get anxious is entirely subjective and different from one another. But the flurry that is music, emotions, seemingly unique experiences, being diagnosed with a mental illness is more universal than we let on. the only sound is a (very informal, probably messy at times) open start in how we use music to feel less alone, more represented, fully understood, and free.

At its core, the only sound is a music project. And sometimes when we put music first, the rest comes out.

Sometimes the only sound you hear is one that is never heard.
Sometimes the only sound you hear is one that can be heard by everyone.