I began medical school in 2007 with the intent to keep the spirit of my artistic pursuits alive. There was an initial adjustment period, where art was moved -not to the back burner- but off the stove completely!! It was during this time of shifting priorities that I started keeping a log of the number of hours that I devoted to different tasks: sleeping, studying, exercising, etc… a behavior that was likely my way of dealing with this great upheaval. The final tally was 2,838 hours spent studying during my first two years, or about 118 days straight. Looking back, it’s little wonder I was starved for creative expression, as this is close to the amount of time that I spent sleeping during this same period. I did continue to play and write music during this time, but it wasn’t until my clinical years (which I am in now) that a true balance returned to my life. It was then that the idea for this album first came to the surface. I had chosen the tracks for the CD and was about to fly to Oregon to re-mix and master these songs when the back up drive that housed the necessary files suddenly stopped working. I use the term “back up hard drive” in name only, as many of the files on it were not actually backed up at all, but stored only there –in that there were no other copies!! Only a few of the files could still be found on the internal hard drive of my 6-year old Titanium PowerBook G4 (proudly depicted in this album’s cover art), which was a mere fraction of my digital work. I frantically called the manufacturer’s technical support team who explained that the hard drive had probably “crashed” and that I was very likely “screwed,” but recommended that I might try replacing the “enclosure,” or power supply to the hard drive itself. Fearing the exorbitant cost of data recovery, I gave it a try. I convinced the manager of a local electronics store to let me swap the drive out right there in the aisle, and my heart actually fluttered when the device whirred back to life. My palpitations were appropriate given that the process of data recovery is technically akin to open-heart surgery, and costs nearly as much!! This scare reminded me just how precious these, and my other recordings, are to me. In retrospect, it seems oddly appropriate that given this album’s intent to revisit some of my hard to find or lesser-known songs, that I might almost have lost them all in the process. I’m proud to have them here safe and sound, and my hope is that these songs will prove new to most people, and that the more familiar tracks will sound nuanced and fresh given their careful mixing and mastering. On that note, I am especially grateful to my friend Michael Lavin who is largely responsible for these improvements. Lastly, I owe a special thanks to those who have followed my hobby of music making to this point. I am proud to share with you an album that I feel is a more full representation of my art, one that purposely breaks down the walls that once separated music from found sound. In the same way, I plan to continue my own artistic pursuits at a pace that my other interests will comfortably allow. Sincerely, Jacob T. Smigel December 5th, 2009