This is a special episode I like to call a “listening party” and the occasion is that I just released a new album called “Learning To Let Go.” And so, I’d like to play each of the 10 tracks for you and tell you a little bit about what inspired them and how they were made.

But first, let me give you a little context about the album. I wrote all of these songs in a 2 week spurt after being let go from my job in 2023. Anyone who has been in that situation knows you go through a roller coaster of emotions. You feel hurt, frustrated, angry, and humiliated. Eventually you come to peace with your situation, try to make the best of it, and do your best to move on. I tried to capture this idea of going through all these emotions with this cycle of songs. In some ways, it’s a continuation of my last album, Starting Over, which dealt with overcoming issues in mental health and finding some solace. Perhaps the focus this time is overcoming financial and career challenges while attempting to keep a positive attitude and hopeful perspective.

I thought about putting the songs in some sort of chronological order so it had something of a story arch with the lyrics, but ultimately, I decided to have the lyrical topics jump around a little in favor of the music sequence flowing better together.

On the notes app on my phone, I have a long running list of potential song titles. I usually add to it when I hear someone say an interesting turn of phrase or a funny idea. One way I approached this album differently is that I started with the song titles. I went through my list and picked out titles that were really resonating with me at the time. Then I would then pair them up with a bunch of instrumental ideas I had kicking around, and this is what formed the basis of the songs. I feel like this approach kept the concepts of songs much more focused because I tried to make every line tie back to the core idea from the title.  

Aside from some sampled drum tracks I programmed, I played every instrument and sang every part on this album in my home studio. I would describe this as more of a rock record than my other recent albums. Of these 10 tracks, only 3 of them have an acoustic guitar, whereas on my last album, it was all 11 tracks. I also spent more time adding synths and other textual sounds. 

Also, I want to give a special thanks to Thomas Holmes for helping me mix and master the recordings. I think his contributions made a huge difference in boasting the sound quality. 

Find it here:

⁠⁠Spotify
⁠Apple Music⁠
⁠Bandcamp ⁠
⁠Soundcloud ⁠