Roughly a year in the making, Melancholy Love was created in a range of emotional states. On one hand, the process was frustration epitomized: the tedious navigation of ineffective mixing engineers; adaptation to semi-functional recording equipment; or a general discontentment of life via broken relationships and an insecurity regarding the future. However, the album has also meant the weaving together of a colorful vision involving new tapestries of sounds, layered to provide an experience pitting the daily irritations against the hope for a life of meaning. The album begins with a reflection on coping mechanisms, before delving into the motivations that push us towards the need for such mechanisms. This may mean disillusionment with the monotony of a 9 to 5 (usually more of an 8 to 5 these days) life, the ignorance of bigotry and simple-minded judgement, the filtered reality of a shallow culture, or simply the souring of once-gratifying relationships. If I had any aim with this album, it was to vent my own frustration with the aforementioned concepts whilst ultimately concluding that, in spite of the imposition of negativity, we can color our own realities with hope and persistence. For fear of describing too much, I'll mention that the music is influenced by the likes of jazz, progressive and psychedelic rock, samba-funk, drunken folk music, r&b, and even a bit of punk-oriented angst. I'm thrilled to expose this music to whomever is reading this and think that there is something in here for everyone. It's been almost 8 months since I actually completed all the recordings, followed by unreliable Mixing engineers and seemingly endless delays. However, in the wake of this, I am proud to present Melancholy Love in its multi-layered entirety. -Nicholas Jackson P.S. A special thanks to the following: Julian Velasco (saxophone on "Chem Trails") Austin Grebinski (Mastering) Alex Nouhan (Mastering)