Wanted to do something darker with more electronic instruments after spending 3 months dabbling in the twangy Americana of the Texas album. The lyrics of these newer songs reflect my recent contemplation of the intersection of humanity and computers, and what it means to be an artist: Do you have to be crazy? Do you have to be French? …This also gave me an opportunity to remix some of the first songs I recorded back in early 2022. These included some of the earliest songs I’ve ever written, teenage rants like “Requiem for a Fly“, “Closing on the Mind“, and “The Velvet Midnight“. (“Onward and Onward” became “Onward and Onward (Child of the Stars)” the reason for which will become obvious if you watch the new video). Even though they were written when I was a teenager, they capture the vibe of a mad strange despair quite well.
The videos I did for this set represent a new direction for me. I’m taking a Comic Book and Anime Class this summer, so the videos have much more of a graphic novel feel to them. I also began to explore the use of Generative AI art tools like MidJourney, something I started to dabble with on the Texas album, but have now gone completely down the rabbit hole on. Lots of ethical issues…but man, I really love the results.
One notable feature of this set is that I didn’t create a collection of instrumental versions of the songs. This is the first time I felt comfortable enough with my vocals to just put it out there as is. I thought the lyrics and the strange tales they tell are such an important part of the work, that it would be wrong to leave them out.
Available on all the major streaming and social platforms. Watch videos below.