A Photo From Last Night’s Studio Rendezvous

Studio success last night! “Magic” sounds incredible, and we’ve got some great ideas for what’s to come next week. Including kazoos. I’ll be posting some video updates super duper soon.

Back In The Studio Tonight!

Tonight we are going back into the studio to continue work on the first “Protector EP”. It is called “Wicked Ways”. The recent decision to release the album in two parts means I will able to share some of this fun whimsical-discolectrik-circus-pop with the world even sooner! I’m getting super excited. Tonight we are working out some bits on two nearly completed tunes called “Magic” and “Kerosene”. “Magic” is looking like the first choice for a single at this point! It’s a fun quirky pop song that’s a little bit carnivale.

In the word of updates, I will posting 4, yes FOUR new Becoming The Protector video diary entries within the next two weeks. A breakdown of each is below:

Episode 4 - Footage and Material from the Orchestral Mietown Motown project I did with Paul Dougherty back in November.

Episode 5 - Footage and a live performance from my Evening Of Fear showcase in Austin, TX that happened back in December.

Episode 6 - Lots of footage that I will be taking TONIGHT at the studio while we bring “Magic” and “Kerosene” to life!

& Episode 7 - Even more studio footage from the session will be holding next week as we continue recording the “Wicked Ways EP”.

Lots of new exciting stuff coming up, and the new tunes are right around the corner! I’m aiming for a May release here in Boston, with a little release and listening party in Austin, TX sometime before I may the big leap into MARRIAGE in June! 

Stay in tune for tons of awesome stuff!

A Decision Regarding The New Album

After careful consideration, I have come to a new decision regarding the way in which I will be executing and releasing the music from my current project “The Protector”.

About 8 months ago, I was ready to release an EP of sketches from the project called “Prophets Become Protectors”; however, I ultimately decided to shelf that idea and instead put my focus into working to discover the sound for the album. This task proved to be much more difficult than I expected. “The Prophecy” was easy, it all came so quickly, but this project wasn’t clicking quite yet.

Upon arriving back to Berklee in last August, I began to make plans to do a live orchestral session project with a very talented friend of mine. Our plan was to go into a studio for a full 12 hour day and knock out 2 songs from the album with a full orchestra. This project did indeed happen, and it is still taking shape for a release of it’s own.

My more recent revelations are the ones that have led me to a decision about how to record and release this album.

In December, I played a show where I played through the music of “The Protector” in its tracklisted order - Just myself and a piano - solo. To say this show went well would be an understatement. The reaction I received for days to come after the show was completely uplifting and exciting. The friends and listeners who came seemed to be just as excited about the music as I had been while writing it - It really did help breathe life into the project when I was beginning to doubt it’s viability.

So now in the last 5 days, after careful thinking, I have come to yet another decision about this release that will wipe out all previous plans.

“The Protector” is no longer an album - It is instead a collection of two or three EPs. In the end I may release them as the intended whole, but for now I will focus on them in groups.  In the last 2 days I have had a total burst of direction and mapped out nearly the whole entire first EP - Just in time for a studio day next week, where we will hopefully get 2 songs done.

So… Here’s the new plan. I’ve got a couple studio days coming up, and I’m working hard on finishing the bare bones before then. My plan for the next 3 months is to lock down 5 songs (which I have already chosen, and 1 of which is 80% complete) to release as “The Protector, Pt. I - Wicked Ways”.

The songs I have chosen for this EP I’m calling “Wicked Ways” embody some of the darkest moments within the songs of “The Protector”, and I thought it would be a great way to begin “the releasing” of the new material.

So, jump on board and get excited, because I intend to release some of this music I call “whimsipop” very very soon - In fact, I have decided to release the first single, “Magic“  a lot sooner than I thought I would be doing.

Check out the artwork for “Wicked Ways” up above, and stay in tune for release dates and a sneak peak video diary entry with lots of footage of what has been going on the last 3 months.

This is happening, for real.