Subsurface is a collection of work recorded in absolute isolation over three long years. This release is the first of four parts. I call this part 'Are We Dead Yet?', or 'Subsurface Volume 1' if you like.

AWDY was written and recorded mostly in the context of spring and summer of 2020. I was not able to finish these songs at the time. I had to put them down for a while. Now, with a bit of distance and hindsight I have been able to return to them with a better sense of what they needed to be.

At this point I think I understand the feelings and textures and sounds I was being drawn to.

They are telling a story about how we don't notice all the small changes that happen over the course of many years. How we spend our time, how people think, how we talk to each other, whatever. Things are always shifting just slowly enough that we might not notice that is is the 'last' time we do that thing that we used to love to do.

At the same time, however, it is a story about how if something messed up enough goes down we can treat it as an opportunity to take a break from the perpetual motion and reflect on what all we accidentally let slip away and rip the the good stuff back into our lives.

The message I found, finishing these, was to never forget the trick. It does not actually take a global disaster to step off the train to nowhere for a bit. Remember to listen to the rain. And when it's time to re-board the Oblivion Express, be sure to pack the good stuff. We're gonna need all the good we can get where we're heading.

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Some notes on the production:

I built many of the instruments myself. Much of the gear I use is old broken down stuff I have repaired or repurposed. If something sounds sampled, it is because I performed the part on the real thing, and sampled it. If something sounds degraded, it is because I recorded it down to a cassette tape or through a tiny speaker taped to a big cardboard tube or something. For the few things I do not physically have in my studio, I generally used a mathematical model of the instrument rather than a sample of it.

Good Enough for Tonight was recorded late one night during a summer thunderstorm. My reel to reel tape machine has two tracks. I plugged a microphone into one input, and my acoustic guitar into the other. I pressed record, and played along to the rain. The tempo is very loose, and the guitar was picking up the buzz of the power lines. I rewound the tape and as I (re)recorded the tape back into the computer, I played piano along to what I was hearing.