For Derek Astles, music offers a manual to the world.

“It’s almost like a spiritual religion, just the whole way I am and how I conduct myself. I feel like a lot of that came from the advice I got from lyrics. How to live,” he said.

The Contoocook-raised musician put out his first solo album in April. The self-titled collection of songs comes more than two decades after Astles studied record production at the Art Institute of Boston then traveled the country in his 20s playing small venues before moving back to New Hampshire and forming the band Rippin’ E Brakes alongside Eric Ober.

“Someone told me once we’re all made out of vibrations,” Astles said. “And music is vibrations that really penetrate the soul. I believe all that stuff. I totally believe that in songwriting I’m reaching up to something and grabbing it, something certain people are in tune to. Some people call that the silver cord.”

His music lays at the intersection of folk and rock, with Bob Dylan holding the top spot among Astles’ favorite artists. He decided to try his hand as a solo musician to distill some of his ideas and experiences in a more personal manner. The album, which features seven tracks, hones in on a storm brewing through “Nor’easter,” ponders the nature of time in “Kills my buzz thinkin’ ‘bout Death” and revels in exploring new places with “Way Out There.”

“People say that to me sometimes, ‘You really kind of put yourself out there.’ And I guess songwriting can be pretty personal, but I don't really care, because songs are also up for interpretation. So I know what they're about, but they're also about whatever you hear,” he said.

He doesn’t like explaining his songs because he doesn’t want to detract from whatever the listener takes away from the experience. 

Astles wrote the songs for the album two winters ago in Scituate, Mass., working with Barry Marshall, the same college professor with whom he recorded an album right after graduating college. He then recorded it at The Bridge Sound and Stage in Cambridge, Mass., and has enjoyed sharing his voice with the world.

“I need to record something just to get it out of my head,” Astles said. “So now that it’s done I feel like I can write some fresh songs. I have a few songs I want to work on, but I need to get everything out of my head before I can start.”

He and his partner, Haley, decided to rent out their Concord home, buy a travel trailer and head to Nashville for the foreseeable future. Astles, who previously operated an odd-jobs business in Contoocook, loves life on the road and wants to see how his time in Nashville can shape his music career. He’s been work-camping to earn a living in Tennessee while playing open mics and other gigs.

Crediting “resourcefulness and “a positive attitude” with helping him balance his creative endeavors with his need to support himself, Astles said he enjoys the fluid nature of his work life. He feels most creative when he wakes up and wants to be able to channel that energy into music.

“I’m a little bit scatterbrained so it can be hard for me to focus on reality when I’m sitting here just thinking about rock and roll songs all day,” he said. “It’s been the same for me my whole life. So I used to try to battle that, and I kind of stopped battling it. I think I’ve incorporated my artistic life into my regular life now.”

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com