This post comes from a place of wanting to keep more up-to-date with this blog and to treat readers to something special. As I've said before, there's been a long pause between posts because there hasn't been much to report; but as the new album - Dialectical Observations - draws nearer (a vague "sometime in July") I have some details and a rough draft to share that can be compiled here, rather than the somewhat random posts that have been shared on social media. Let's start off with the track list, which is pretty much set in stone:
1. "When Anchorage Became An Island"
2. "Man Seeking Cocoon for (NSA LTR)"
3. "Familial Germs"
4. "Movement"
5. "Butterflies on Ganymede"
6. "Fleeting Fractals"
7. "Signor Fancypants"
8. "Less Sinister Cousins"
9. "Fistfuls of Whimsy (Alternate Spin)"
Much shorter than the usual formula of compiling songs from two or three EPs, it comes in at a breezy fifty-minutes. Though shorter, this album offers what I feel can be described as a "cinematic" experience. Previous albums have expressed my delusion that "longer means better." They have also been better described as "compilation album." It may seem that my discography isn't so, but I've released pay-what-you-will "non-commercial" EPs in the past that have been compiled into the albums Instrumentality, Occultation, Jaded, and Revolutions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was released after a change in tactics, but was still a compilation-plus-rarities. All were sixteen tracks, all coming in at around an hour-and-a-half, and all making for a bipolar experience. This album comes from a place of intention, as the EP Counterbalance did. It offers some mournful grace, along with some lighter pop, a little industrial-metal fury, and a gentle reprieve.
It may seem, with three songs from Counterbalance and two songs (sort of) from Elemental, that this is another compilation, but I could have added every song from Counterbalance (which were all original to that EP) as well as a bonus track for a thirteen-track album, plus the songs original to Elemental, but felt that "Yours To Burn," "Counterbalance" - which were very expressive of that EPs theme - "Cerebellum," and "Quietly Matriculating" were contrary to a certain experience that the album is aiming for. So, as I was building the track list, one song after the other was thrown out, and I have ended up with a presentation of five songs from the EPs, and four songs original to the album. Okay, enough disclaimers and excuses.
This album will pretty much have been a year in the making, with progress that has been much more stuttered than in the past, when I created four albums from the debut EP in February of 2015, to celebrate its one-year release with my fourth album, Revolutions. My excuse here is that in the summer of 2016 I was both moving and helping with the preparations for my mom's wedding. I was able to pull off Counterbalance following Fall and Winter, but Spring and now Summer has seen me attempting to be a farmer, now that I'm far more able to do physical labor since my hospitalization in 2014. So working on Dialectical Observations has often taken a backseat to fertilizing soil, sowing seeds, weeding crops, and raising chickens. I also blame the fact that I now sleep during every twenty-four hour period, compared to the two-hour naps every thirty-six hours with a crash of twelve hour once a week. This is due to the advice of, and prescriptions from, my psychiatrist. Sometimes I think binaural patterns interrupt creativity, so I'm forcing this schedule upon myself less and less.
I thought I was done with excuses! Well, maybe they're more explanations than excuses. I can stop with the self-flagellation. My therapist says I'm too hard on myself, and that I am not lazy, even though I often think so. But what does she know? She only has a doctorate.
Speaking of therapy, it's about time for me to take off for an appointment, so here's the "something special" I promised. It's a very early draft of "Man Seeking Cocoon," which has been completed and shelved as "done," as I move on to exploring some "what if"s and adding some finishing touches to the other songs. This preview, which Patreon patrons were privy to six weeks ago, is among the ways I find to make Patrons feel special. A pledge now will receive a download of an Artist's Edition of Dialectical Observations in July, and won't be charged until the end of that month.
Until the album's release: may your inner snails remain resilient and determined.
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