How you as the listener will interpret the music on this album is up to you, but for the sake of sakes, I’ll share with you a minor aspect of what I think the music on this disc represents and also a little insight into how it came about being in its present form. The tracks are solo works with me singing and playing acoustic guitar except for two of the songs that were played on the electric. My good friend Dan Reyhle added a few sweeteners to a couple of the songs to give the project as a whole the feel of an album instead of being just a mono-session bootleg and I think the overall feel is one of a simple relaxed calm. There does seem to be a philosophy to the songs (that mirrors my own internal struggle) of love and individualism, the interplay of the two, and the awareness of how important this existence is while at the same time acknowledging the seemingly trivial absurdity to it all. Regardless, I think this album is a mellow ride with a ton of space for which you can sit inside a peaceful groove. The songs on this album were recorded over the course of 3 different nights towards the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2006 at Sprout City Studios in Eugene. Two of the nights were during the time that I was living out of the storage space above the studio, and so those were basically midnight sessions sitting in the control room (my living room at the time). In total, there were about sixty songs recorded, and, essentially, I set up a couple of mikes, sat down and performed the songs, mixed the music, and then burnt the tracks to disc. During this process there was no thought or intention of “releasing” any of the music, it was just me getting some of the songs I had written up to that point on to disc so I’d could send away for the copyright and so I’d have a record of their form. After that, they went “into the vault” and that was the last I thought of them until late one August evening in 2009. As that year got under way, life threw a couple of serious curve balls in my direction and towards the end of that summer, I hadn’t been sleeping well for some time and towards the end of August I had a couple of nights in a row were I just couldn’t get to sleep. On the particular night in question, I had run out of ideas as to how to get through the night. I knew listening to music, reading a book, watching TV, going for a walk, having a beer, or talking to a friend wasn’t going to do it and sometime in the early hours of the morning I remembered that I had five CD’s of rough draft songs in my desk draw and I got inspired to pull them out. (I had recently moved and the recordings from up above were in my desk drawer because I hadn’t found a new home for them yet). Anyways, I got the songs out and listened to all five discs of songs and it was real calming to reconnect with myself and my journey on many levels. A number of the songs made me laugh because the performances weren’t that great and it was like looking at pictures of myself from elementary school, cool but kind of embarrassing, can you dig? Most of the songs were pretty good, though, and I was proud of the work I had done and the intention I had carried and it relaxed me. A couple of the tunes, though, really seemed to stand out from the rest and it was as if I was listening to someone else and the songs really put me to ease because something really definite and true had gotten captured on the recordings. Then and there I got the idea that maybe some of those songs should be put out for others to enjoy. Shortly after that, I was in Eugene and I asked Dan (seeing how I knew we had a similar instinct for music and that he was a fan) to give the songs I had picked out a listen and tell me if he thought there was anything there worth releasing or if it would be better to leave the songs in the vault. He agreed and when I saw him a couple of days later he had told me about a couple of sweet moments he had while listening to the music and that he definitely thought they worth putting out. He asked me if he could put some mandolin on Butterfly and when I heard his interpretations, it was as if the parts had been there all along and it felt real good to have somebody add something to my music and make it better. From there, we decided to try to add of few light touches to a couple of the other songs and over the course of the next two years, the story of the album as it is slowly evolved and presented itself. Along the way, there was no pressure like “we gotta get this out”, it was more like, “let’s just come back to it now and again and see how it feels, if it comes together, cool, if not, equally cool”. In the end, I think the wait was worth it. The first album I recorded (the Lonely Room tapes) took a week and was itself a magical experience, but it was nice to let this one evolve on its own (or perhaps, this one just had a different agenda than the first album). These songs were recorded before the first album though, and as much as I think this album stands on its own, I also think the songs provide some insight into a time period and also the narrative of who I am as an artist. I can’t imagine another album coming about in this manner, but standing forward and looking back, to not have this album in the catalog might be like having a big gap in the understanding and a sweet moment missed. That’s might be just my intuition though… Regardless, I hope you enjoy the music and find a calm space from which to glide and I look forward to seeing you up ahead. Thanks for your time and for now and with a deep sincerity, take care of yourself. -Mark A!