Chicago, IL songwriter Joe Goodkin earns a living performing a one-man folk opera of the ancient epic Homer’s Odyssey; yet the music he crafts as an indie artist finds its Muse in the bittersweet elegance of the modern everyday. On Record of Love, the third in a series of interconnected EPs, Goodkin sketches profound truths with a clean economy of language, wrapped in a fluttering wash of delicate sonics. Fragile, confessional, and unashamed in its raw honesty, the record is a portrait of the fleeting grace of our shared humanity. Goodkin’s journey to Record of Love (to be released individually, and as part of a double vinyl collection containing its predecessors Record of Life and Record of Loss) has been an odyssey unto itself . A lifelong musician, just after the turn of the millennium Goodkin found inspiration in an unusual place. Drawing on his degree in the Classics, Goodkin constructed a composition for acoustic guitar and voice which deconstructs The Odyssey through song. Invoking the spirit of the ancient Greek bards, he found success, and has performed at hundreds of institutions (including Stanford, Harvard, and Brown.) Concurrent to this, Goodkin began to chart his own life in a more conventional musical setting, releasing full-band indie rock under the name Paper Arrows. From 2008 - 2013, Paper Arrows released five records, garnering substantial college radio play, and had songs featured in programs on MTV, E!, and PBS. In 2014 Goodkin had an epiphany. “I was about to make a Paper Arrows record when I wrote the song ‘Gray’” he explains. “Paper Arrows doesn’t work acoustic, and because of the number of members required it was difficult to tour. “Gray” was different, a true solo song, and more came right after.” Serendipitously, Goodkin came across a unique approach to producing this new music; using one guitar – a 1963 Gibson ES-125t - in an alternate tuning to make all the sounds on the recording. Goodkin put aside Paper Arrows and applied all he’d learned with The Odyssey to his new work. “It gave me both a business model and a creative model: create something thematic that is essentially the opposite of what popular music is today” he tells. The Odyssey is an intense performance that demands the audience sit, listen, and think. By embracing that same dedication to direct storytelling and often brutally honest themes Goodkin’s solo work would do the same; the initial result was 2015’s Record of Life EP. Touring behind Record of Life, Goodkin was stunned by the intensity of the audience’s reaction. Convinced he was onto something special, he set about creating a sequel EP entitled Record of Loss (released in February) and a conclusion, Record of Love. “I wanted to complete the traditional storytelling arc of introducing characters, putting them in a difficult place, and finally resolving that difficulty” says Goodkin. “I'm kind of trying to go big by going small if that makes sense.” A truly cohesive whole, the individual compositions in each part of the trilogy are interrelated. For example, the first song on Record of Love, is written with the same chords as the last song of Record of Loss; finish side A, turn it over, and Side B starts with a stripped down version of the song that ended the first side. More clues abound: “Ashes” completes the arc from Life’s “Gray” to Loss’ “Nothing to Lose.” There are myriad incidences of inter-connection through the cycle, and it will take a careful ear to discover them all. The interrelated nature of the cycle and Goodkin’s experience with releasing The Odyssey influenced the choice to issue all the three Record of EPs as double vinyl. “The Odyssey CD included a poster of the lyrics plus commentary. The response was incredible: people like interacting with something real. So I decided to compile all three Record of EPs on two vinyl records and utilize the gatefold jacket to present the lyrics.” All three of the EPs were written at Goodkin’s home and recorded at IV Lab Studios in Chicago. Intimate and pure, no other musicians appear. Every single sound was made with one guitar, including the percussion, creating using muted guitar strum, delay pedals, and other manipulations. A deeply cathartic creative process, Goodkin’s sincere hope is that others will find their own courage in his fearless emotional openness. “I hope the experience creates empathy (which is the secret to... everything, and sorely lacking these days). I hope that the permanence and substance of a physical record is an antidote to our ephemeral culture. We've been telling stories in song as a way to further our cultures since... well, since Homer. In Homer's songs I perceive a direct line back millennia to other humans and common human experience. I hope people will take even a little bit of that from my songs.”