Stuart Davis (born on January
11, 1971 in
Des
Moines, Iowa,
U.S.) is a
contemporary American musician and songwriter
from Minnesota,
currently residing in Boulder, CO. His music contains elements of
folk,
punk,
rock,
pop,
haiku, and
progressive
rock. He describes his musical style as
'
Post-Apocalyptic Folk Punk Rock' or 'Dharma Pop'.
Costellonews.com described Davis as a "Singer/songwriter...known
on the indie circuit
for his Buddhist-Muslim-Hindu-Taoist-Jew-Christian-infused
brand of biting pop/folk..."
[1] He has been performing throughout the United States
and Europe since 1993. To date, Davis has sold over 40,000 albums
worldwide.
Davis is also a member of the art branch of
Ken Wilber's
Integral
Institute, and in recent years has become more active in
multimedia endeavors that showcase his comedic writing and
interviewing skills, and his passion for Eastern and Western
spirituality.
Davis' early work is acoustic, folky, and
typically indie. The early lyrics critique the materialism and
irrationality of contemporary culture with irony, sarcasm, and
biting humor. With the release of Kid Mystic, Davis' work
turns more inward and spiritual, but sustains the entertaining wit
of his earlier work. Many of his recent lyrics reflect the struggle
to relate to a divinity that is truly
transcendent,
and yet equally immanent. Later
albums use a more extensive and electric instrumentation, and fall
under the power pop
genre.
Although Davis' lyrics are informed by contemporary
philosophical and spiritual issues, they also display a
preoccupation with alternate sexual practices. In fact, one could
say that Davis' work mediates between sensuality and spirituality.
Davis practices meditation in a
Buddhist tradition
(and he has recently taken Genpo Roshi as his teacher), but he
believes that religious traditions ultimately fail to transmit the
transcendent events from which they spring. He has identified
Ken Wilber,
Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, Ramana
Maharshi and Aurobindo as
influences, and his work displays a deep understanding of
Zen and
Sufism.
Davis' songs are populated by alcoholics, atheists, bulimics,
drug addicts, egoists, false prophets, fetishists, sadists,
masochists, narcoleptics, pedophiles, pornographers, prostitutes,
rapists, sexual predators, suicides, swingers, and terrorists.
(Stuart's lyrics are considered explicit and/or obscene by some
libraries and retailers.) But his lyrics also describe angels,
artists, gods, gurus, messiahs, mystics, prophets, psychics, and
saints. There is a clear and constant religious component to Davis'
work. In fact, the mystical and
transcendent themes render some of his songs able to be construed
as Christian. This tension points to the profoundly
integrative
aspect of Davis' thought—on his view, the theme of sexual deviance
does not contradict the spiritual themes. His perspective is wide
enough to coherently include much more of the human experience than
most. Thus it is possible to see Davis as a mystical poet like
Rumi,
Kabir,
Basho,
Ikkyu,
Rilke, or
Emily
Dickinson.
Davis' performances include light improvisational comedy which,
like his music, often mixes spiritual with sexual themes. This
repartee is
evident on the live albums he has released. Davis is a prolific
performer, giving about 100 performances per year. Since getting
married (to Ken Wilber's ex-wife, Marcia) and having children (two
girls, Ara Belle and Aja Pink), however, his performance tours have
been less numerous, while his multimedia work has expanded.
