Come Back to Duluth
2008

Inspired by the famous runaway bride from Duluth GA who faked a kidnapping in order to avoid her marriage, this song was the lead off track of my 2008 album, Dah Vay Bohm Awaits. I recorded much of this song in Reason, which I abandoned as a tool shortly thereafter. I also animated much of a music video for it, but abandoned that as well.

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Napkins
2003

From the first Pleasant Intervals album, Napkins, this song gathered many compliments, which made me more confident in my songwriting abilities. I think I wrote it as a pep talk to myself. I was obviously listening to a lot of Beach Boys at the time.

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Friends With Residue
2010

From the album, Lazy Jupiter, which was furiously recorded in a week where I had no work and both my roommate and girlfriend were out of town. I had the house to myself, set up a drum kit in the living room and recorded the guitars really loud. I like the solos on this one, but I wish I did another vocal take. It's a love song, I think?

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Lunar Sense
2007

A song from the 2007 album, Creepy Wonderful. I was mourning the loss of a relationship and channeled that energy into the album. Every song was about ghosts or monsters or whatever. A concept album about being afraid. This one was about being “Lost in Space”.

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Fire at West Main
2004

I recorded this one at my loft in Philadelphia. It’s about an explosion of illegal fireworks at the place of my former employment, West Main Video, in Plymouth Pennsylvania. It literally destroyed the building and nearly killed my former boss. I also performed this song with New Motels and The Almanac. I really liked this one. Still do.

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Vampires
2007

Another Creepy Wonderful track. I realize now that the dry production is very atypical for me. Probably the first time I ever played a real drum kit on one of my own songs. Can you tell?

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Ursa Minor
2008

This song is the first time I ever recorded using VST synths. One sound is from an Arturia synth. I can't remember which one, but the preset name was "Two Mermaids".

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What is True?
2008

This one is also from "Dah Vay Bohm Awaits". I'm particularly fond of my guitar playing on this one. I wish I could’ve had a real drummer play on it though.

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Lemonade Real
2003

I wrote this song in 2001 and released it on the Napkins album. I’m not particularly proud of my lyrics from this era, but this song says something that still resonates with me. Drums and bass were performed by the great Mike Quinn. I think I kinda did him dirty in the production of this song, but I considered this my best for a little while.

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Hair
2010

Another track from Lazy Jupiter. I don’t what the hell I was going for on this song but I think it’s pretty cool.

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Past and Present Tense
2009

From the 2009 EP, Wuddup, this track was kind of a turning point in my songwriting/recording to a little bit of a heavier sound. I remember at the time thinking I was kind of singing like J Mascis but I don’t think that’s true now.

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Come Pick Me Up
2003

The oldest track of the collection, this song might've been written sometime around 2000 but not recorded until I got my first condenser microphone in 2002. The lyrics are lightly alluding to John Hinckley's presidential assassination attempt. This act led to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which is worth noting only because my band prior to the Pleasant Intervals was named The Brady Experiments. I'm not sure how conscious I was of this or why I was thinking about these things at the time.