"Breathe" is about another observation I made while traveling. It's about the way people meet and about the very specific selection process they all take part in and through which they choose some of their fellow travelers as their (temporary) friends, partners in crime, lovers or disciples, while ignoring, or even openly rejecting others. Due to the fact that everybody meets for a very short period of time, the whole putting-people-into-boxes-thing happens a lot faster than in the real world. And escaping these boxes is a lot harder, too.

This system gives an edge those who are easy to read and happy with the box they are usually put in. You probably know the types: the hippies with their rastas and self-made jewelry, the surfers with their muscles and tattoos, the party-thirsty backpackers, the outdoorsy nature-lovers, the posh holiday makers with their suit cases who didn't know what a bucket shower was and who are now sitting in the guesthouse's common area, visibly shocked. The process seems straightforward and it is. Yet it leaves out the people that are not that easy to read. And that is unfortunate because they are usually the ones with the interesting stories. And the listening-skills. More often than not they step into a new place and are suddenly being compared and judged and weighed. And like in a supermarket the obvious, the easy, the well-packaged, the loud and the confident items are being picked over the shy and quiet ones.

As you can imagine, I observed this system more than once. And I think it's fair to say that depending on the situation, the surrounding, my mood, the time I had already spent in that country, etc. I assumed different roles at different times. Still, as we were traveling as a couple I believe that we were both not really for sale, at least not as individuals. Anyway. I found the whole thing quite eerie. So when I had overcome the involuntary creative break I was going through in the beginning of 2017 (read more on that here) I put together a few notes I had written on the subject and turned them into the lyrics for a an instrumental piece I had written, arranged and recorded a few months ago.