Announcing album 2: STEP INTO THE OCEAN
I can’t believe I’m now at a point where I can share this: my second album is called STEP INTO THE OCEAN and preorders are now open for it.
It’s 13 tracks and 54 minutes long. A decade in the making. Somehow it’s both an exercise in restraint and an unapologetic alternative rock sprawl. The five singles I’ve released in 2024 are on it, and 8 more tracks to complete the journey.
It’ll be released on Friday May 17. The evening prior, I’ll be hosting a little listening party on Bandcamp – RSVP here.
If you want to listen to it, you have options:
Alternatively, preorder it from me directly for $12 (no platform fees ftw).
If you don’t want to spend 💵, no worries! It will be on streaming services in early June.
Getting unstuck in time
Much of this album took form in 2013-2014, during a period where my now-wife and I decided to move in together, then relocate to New York City, only to “come home” after 10 months due to a job change and a visceral feeling of isolation. It was during this period where our relationship was tested for the first time, and I produced a lot of music as a result. This period had me revisiting ideas from years prior to that, even – “trendsetters” has elements dating back to 2009, “curiosity” lifts from a solo piano piece I wrote in 2008 for a school project, “belly” was originally intended for a collaborative project with my friend Tess back in 2011. I intended to put out this material as an album called Bedtime Rituals (with “ritual” sort of functioning as a title track and centerpiece). I spent months getting this album to sound the way I wanted, never quite getting there.
Then life got in the way and this album basically sat on a hard drive. I got deeply involved with the job I took “back home” in Boston and music took a major back seat. I would occasionally have and record an idea, compile those into albums and quietly “release” them on the internet with no promotion whatsoever, and basically nobody heard them as a result. These songs were occasional reflections on my relationships, impostor syndrome, capitalism, the like. In early 2019 I had put together an album called Sleepwalker under the alias Sophomores (which contained an early version of “forget everything” - another song dating back several years), which I intended to use to revitalize an experimental pop act, only to find out that the young girl from Little Miss Sunshine (who was now an adult woman) had announced her debut single “Sleepwalking” from her new project Sophomore. I saw this as a sign to step away from music for a bit.
In 2019, after abandoning Sophomores and with life fully in the way, I changed jobs and needed to go to San Francisco for a new-job-onboarding thing. My wife & I made it into a little trip, rented a car & drove down the Pacific Coast Highway. We’d never been to places like Big Sur and it was wonderful. One of the beaches there had these weird wood structures all over that looked like small tents that one might rest in before taking a dive into the ocean. Somehow decrepit & meticulous & harrowing & exciting at once. She took a picture of one.
In late 2023, I kicked off the Kid Lightbulbs project with my first album Throw myself into the bay. Some people on the internet seemed to really like it, which honestly caught me by total surprise and boosted my confidence immensely. I started revisiting my older audio sessions and realized that I have at least 3 full albums of material just sitting here, much of which is pretty good!
I dusted off the old Bedtime Rituals sessions, starting with “trendsetters”, only to immediately realize that these songs had taken on new meaning in the decade since originally recording. Originally “trendsetters” was about losing my edge against younger hipsters making differently interesting music – now it’s simply about getting older. “ritual” was about the comfort of my relationship during a hard time – now it’s about the fact that my wife and I always return to each other no matter what chaos life is throwing at us. ”She’s too good for me” (a song I have yet to release) is as relevant as ever.
STEP INTO THE OCEAN is about the uncomfortable acceptance of a life with complexity. It’s about getting older and still having love but being okay with its warts. It bizarrely emerged as a sequel to my more urgent and abrasive first album (both in themes and title); where Throw myself into the bay needed to get out of my system, I feel I can handle and thrive in the feelings of this second album for a while.
I hope folks enjoy this thing as much as I do.
