The year was 2010, and I had just released my debut album, 'The Good Doctor... is in (Subproject 94)’. The reviews came pouring in from all over my friends and immediate family. It was a success! My mother said it may be the greatest album of all-time; and she hung the cover art on the fridge. Bolstered by the positive feedback, I immediately began working on a follow-up.

At some point later that year, I developed an alternate persona named Lando Martini. This character was a sleazy, modern day lounge singer. He was brash, cheesy, arrogant, and ostentatious. Think Tony Clifton (Google it) and you're close to the idea. At first he existed only in a song (Introducing Lando Martini) but I soon flirted with the idea of a whole concept album starring Lando. Over the course of the following four years, MANY songs were started but never finished. Some were almost completed but I never got to the point where they felt ready. By 2014, the concept album died and I ended up creating only one more song that fit the theme (That Filthy Touch). Consequently, the two Lando songs happen to be my least favorite on this album but I left them on for a few reasons. First and foremost being that I would never write songs like these today. I don't know if it's maturity or just me changing with the times but now that we have a real life Lando in the White House the character seems a lot less funny and more cringe. Maybe it was cringe even back then and I was too immature to see it. I don't know. But the intent was always satirical and meant to poke fun at the misogynistic wannabe lotharios oft glorified in music, film, and our society at large. All things considered, I was still hesitant to release these tracks because I feared that it may come across that I was actually glorifying that kind of behavior myself. Ultimately I moved past that thought as I think it's important to show my growth as a musician, as a writer, and as a person. And, though I don't think the conceptual basis is as amusing as I once did, I'm still proud of my clever lyricism and I put a lot of goddamned work into these tracks so cut me some slack here ;)

This album spans four or so years of my life where I was learning the craft of songwriting. I mean, I'm STILL learning but back then I was a novice. Now I'd like to think I'm pretty darned good for someone who only has basic home equipment and almost zero musical talent. It was a bit of a golden era for me. A big part of the reason these (and other) tracks never saw the light of day was because in mid-2013 my father died suddenly and it completely killed all of my creativity; partly because of the emotional impact of the death itself and partly because something in me died with him. I gave up on making music and focus on my career instead. Over the next year I would occasionally get the bug to start something new or finish something left unfinished but most of the time it never went anywhere. At least until 2015.

In Spring of that year I sat down and finish a bunch of unfinished tracks; many of which appear on this album. I put my nose to the grindstone and really focused on completing many of these tracks but I somehow ended up creating five new entirely instrumental tracks inspired by some of my favorite retro wave artists at the time (Lazerhawk, Perturbator, Com Truise, etc). Those tracks became the NightDriver EP; a much less appreciated but, in my opinion, superior album to my first.

After the release, and another tepid response (my mom didn’t really love the first album), once again the flame died. And this time it stayed dead for another four more years until I was laid off from that aforementioned career I gave so much of my life to. Since then, I've spent a lot of time thinking about who I am and what I want from this life. The only consistent answer is that I must make music. So late last year I started digging out some old files, looking for good ideas I'd forgotten about and making new ones too. I’m happy to report that I’m currently working on two concept albums; one, a spiritual successor to NightDriver and another, more serious, indie pop album. In the last few weeks I've been working hard to get those albums done and yet, despite my drive, these old tracks came back to haunt me one last time.

I stumbled across a couple of the almost finished songs lurking in my iTunes playlist and thought to myself, it’s time. So, one by one, I went through the list of unfinished tracks and found the ten you see here today. Some were entirely finished and had been for some time but they still never felt right. And now, in hindsight, I could finally see why they felt off - they sounded like shit! I’ve spent the last two weeks remastering them, cutting out unnecessary noise, and refining them. After several long, late nights, I can truly say I'm happy with the results. They're finally ready! To be honest, it's been hectic and I still kinda wish I had spent that time working on the new songs; but I'm glad to finally let this music out of its cage after all these years. I hope you like what you hear.