my new full length ambient music album is officially out now. it’s called somewhere in the distance, somewhere toward the mountains. before you get to know this album intimately, i wanted to give some insight into what this release means to me, as well as the story that it tells. it does tell a story, after all. albeit without words.
as a lot of you know, i've not been able to travel far from home for some time now. about ten years, actually. i’ve written about this before and hesitate to do so again because the story isn't very compelling. i had always been an anxious person growing up, drifting between manageable stages of nervous thought and uncomfortable sensations. the tendency towards avoidance had always been there, looming in the background, but culminated sharply one day in 2008. i woke up and everything was different. my whole world changed, it became very small. things i'd previously done without much thought suddenly became very difficult. like getting into a car, or visiting friends, or going to the store. it all involved exiting the safety of the invisible walls my mind had built around my house.
i know, the releases about agoraphobia must seem repetitious at this point. but this sickness is the most defining and unique part of my existence. it's the reason that i'm here. to talk about it, and experience it, and turn it into art. it's all that i've known for so long.
these recordings are from 2016-2018. they're mostly melodic, only sometimes delving into the harsher and colder tones of drone music. some of them are completely digital, others are analog, playing with the limitations of a four track cassette recorder and homemade tape loops.
this album is about travel. or, the concept of travel. it's a story told without using words. a train ride that i've never taken. one that moves through the snow, and along the coast, and into a dream. it was written while looking outward, at a very big world that i haven't been a part of for a very long time. but, most importantly, it was written with the wholehearted and unrelenting desire to move toward it.
as always, thank you for listening.