13: Orbits
This is just about someone who takes up all the oxygen in the room… someone who wraps all comments, arguments, disagreements up into their victimhood.
I didn’t work on music in April much because I had covid…
12: In Circles / Threadbare (The Anhedonia Suite)
Ok, this song is 9 minutes. It’s essentially two songs stuck together. I had separate ideas, and they ended up in the same key, and felt like a story. So, I built them together - using the intro from song one and the intro from song two to end the song, as a way to tie this mega build together. It was a lot to put together - and I probably wouldn’t want to build 9 minutes again..,
11: Lifeline
This started out completely different than the final version. I wanted something of a bop, where the audience could all bounce together…. but I landed upon something more of an anthem for the shit things that happen to us in relationships, and how it’s ok to wear down, and then rebuild.
10: I Feel Alive
Is this a continuation of Live Like I’m Running Out Of Time? Perhaps…. It’s the awakening one has, when life has been shit, and you start to believe in yourself again.
9: Live Like I’m Running Out Of Time
I want to be a better person… and sometimes it takes a song to remind me that time is running out, and now is the time to make those changes.
This has a vibe and I love how it turned out.
Working on final steps, my son sat with me, and sang along - that was all I needed - if no one else hears it - at least I have that day with him.
8: Go For Gold
And another song that never says the title (is this four now?)… and has me screaming my little lungs out……..
If you’re going to ruin a relationship, you might as well go for the gold medal and burn it all down…
”We wasted time in the tv’s glow”
7: Sleep With The Lights On (Hell)
This was an earlier song I had written for this project, but didn’t get around to recording until now.
It has that fast, punk, emo feel…. this is what I thought the entire album would be, before I started to push out, and test myself.
Most favorite part of this song… is the breakdown - There’s a Fall Out Boy riff… can you figure out which song? I’ll be happy to tell ya….
6: March Into May
Another challenge to push outside my comfort zone of fast distortion to cover my vocals…. This one was a test to see if I could paint a narrative, tell a large story, and convey deep hurt and pain from the end of a relationship.
I love the way this song flows - if it wasn’t mine, it would be a song I’d listen to…
The vocal effects on the medicine is helping… the ebb and flow of quiet and loud… big and small…
I’d say it’s my most vulnerable song yet.
5: Anxiety
This song has special feelings and meaning for me, as my anxiety has only increased in the recent years - so much so, that I’m no longer playing live concerts, and live a hermit life…
The lyrics and phrasing don’t follow true 4/4 form, and incorporate 2/4 bars and extra phrases to tell the story how I wanted to…
I think the music makes me feel a little anxious… and the bridge is for all those people trying to help… take a breath… count to ten… etc…
A third song title that’s never actually sung in the lyrics… This must be part of how I think and write…
4: The Years Don’t Wait
It has gone through many iterations and versions of lyrics.
The line used to say “as we hum along” but something didn’t sit right with me….
I’m still not convinced I have the right lyrics - but I’m pleased with the music, so we’ll see…….
3: Brand New
It started with wanting to test myself to slow things down and not make all songs 180bpm. I got the chord structure, and the line “I don’t know where you end and I begin” clicked, and the rest fell into place. Made it more about a person, a concert setting, and how things feel when consumed with a person.
The words Brand New are never in the song (title two that is never in the lyrics)… and the title is because I was trying to write a song like the band Brand New, and this is what I ended up with.
2: Ethereal and Alternatives
This song is the second I’ve completed, about the 4-5th I’ve worked on, for what I’ll consider an upcoming album - probably in reality, more like 2026…. EEEKKKK!!!
Life’s a Carousel - Spinning slow, spinning fast…
If I could say anything, it’s all about the ups and downs of life, and how life just keeps going, with or without you.
Now idea why it has this title… it’s not in the lyrics, and somehow just made sense for what I was thinking.
1: The Great Exhale
I was working on a song called Cyclical Meloncholy - which also was shortened to Cm, to represent it actually being in C minor. This was something I had floating around since 2020, in some epic Pink Floyd type synth rock tune. It had a little melody and some words, but nothing sat right with me, so it was shelved for years and years - circling back to clean up sounds and eq, but never to add anything else or change it.
So, I sat a bit, listened to my 5 year old unfinished recording, and the ska / upbeat part just clicked. I was so motivated with how it was progressing, I reworked the entire song structure, incorporating the ska, but also redoing all the lyrics and melodies - which meant cutting my original up into different sections and building all new.
It shifted then from Cyclical Meloncholy to The Great Exhale, and the first song of my TBD album is near finished - needs minor mixing and mastering…
Astral Punk
I played a couple songs for friends, and one came back saying, this is something he’d want to listen to later at night, outside under the stars - perhaps with a few libations… But in the conversation, he dropped the term Astral Punk. YES! This is exactly what I wanted… a new genre, blending some shoegaze elements with punk, emo, pop-punk for those big choruses and sing-a-longs.
Working it up, here’s the best description yet of what’s to come:
Imagine a genre that's like gazing at the stars from a gritty city rooftop. "Astral Punk" would blend spacey, atmospheric synths and dreamy, otherworldly tones with the raw energy and rebellious spirit of punk rock. You’d have driving guitars and punchy rhythms, but layered with cosmic soundscapes, maybe even some synth arpeggios or reverb-soaked vocals that feel like they're echoing through the universe.
Lyrically, it could dive into themes of exploration, existential journeys, or the feeling of being a cosmic misfit—someone both grounded in punk’s rebellious attitude and reaching for something bigger and more ethereal.
In short, “Astral Punk" is a genre you could imagine as a fusion of starry-eyed wonder and the edgy pulse of the underground.