I have been writing music since college, but have often been distracted by other things, other projects, other jobs. This album is a very long time in coming, and features four songs from different stages of my life. “The Skype Song” is about how much long distance relationships suck. The song was written 4 years ago when my then-girlfriend and I were living not only in separate cities and countries, but entirely different continents, separated by a 14 hour plane ride (at least). We lived on Skype and Google Chat and all of the other lovely communication technologies that modern society affords us. Needless to say, that relationship ended, but it had much less to do with the long-distance, but rather, being long distance brought into sharp relief the fundamental incompatibilities that festered right below the surface. This doesn't, however, diminish the sentiments behind this song, nor the timelessness and the universality of longing for another person across great distances. Musically, this piece was probably the one we had the most fun with. For me, it's one of my favorite songs to play live, because the chording is pretty simple, and the melody catchy. Also, if I'm performing in LA, the audience readily sympathizes with the tragedy that is the 101 freeway during rush hour traffic. “Atheist's Prayer” is the oldest song on the album, and the only one with a strong piano presence. Written almost a decade ago, when I was much younger and coming to terms with the fact that there is a lot of crap that happens in the world (I grew up pretty sheltered), this song was inspired by a drive home one evening through my hometown. I stopped at a traffic light and noticed a church inside a dingy-looking strip mall. Having not grown up religious, I was tickled by the fact that there was a church in a strip mall! Now I realize that this is a thing, but back then, the concept was quite novel to me. As I drove along, though, a more sobering image hit me. I used to live near Port Hueneme, a naval base in Oxnard, California, and we would often see (usually) large black SUVs with decals on the windows of epitaphs for people – usually young men in their early twenties – who had been killed in action. That night, I went home and wrote this song in one sitting. This song also consists of the one major disagreement that my producer, Barry, and I had during the course of making this album. If you are listening carefully, you will hear the violin, in a song that is in D Major, ascend to a C-natural when it first comes in. I hated it, Barry loved it. Barry won this argument (for reasons I won't elaborate here, but mainly having to do with our efforts to de-sentimentalize the song itself), and though I still think it sounds out of place, it has grown on me. “Two Weeks”, another song written in one sitting, was written about 6 years ago, when I found myself in love with the completely wrong person, and had to go through the process of separating myself from the situation. I think of this song as our “fast and loose” song, since I initially wanted to throw instrument and quasi-instrument into it, including a kazoo, a ukulele, and an ocarina. Plus a three-part vocal harmony. We also planned to have congas as the percussive backdrop, but only had access to a cajon that day, so we were, um, flexible. Throw in the fact that the day we recorded the backup vocals, I was practically improvising them, and I'd say this track turned out quite well! The highlight of this piece has to be Barry's intricate bass part throughout. Finally, “Fortune Teller,” written just a couple weeks before getting into the studio, is my existential crisis song. Enjoy! This album is a collaboration Barry Neely, who not only produced and engineered it, but also played almost every other instrument that was needed. You can find his works at http://www.realm7g.com. Other collaborators include Jennifer Liu (www.jenniferliuviolin.com) on the violin, and Adam Hanson on drums and percussion. Kenneth Tan Ronquillo (http://www.lolaxkenneth.com/) provided the artwork. Much love and thanks to my family (Mama, Baba, Kenneth, Jenny, and and Pepper) and my wonderful friends for your support!