Journeys is chronologically one of my earliest compositions. This song has memories tied to it from the summer of 2004. I remember the effort of trying to perform the piece into a stereo and then a dictaphone in a crude attempt at overdubbing. I don't miss those days. Recording studios are way more fun.

The song has been recorded 3 times. I initially recorded it in small capacity with Bill Stoddart in a high school bathroom around Spring of 05, and used this crude track as backing for various performances of the song that year. It was an easy way to have something to do when asked to perform or demonstrate anything musical. The second recording was again with Bill again (the coolest dude in the world) during the early summer of 06 for a school project.

Though the song served me well through the back half of my high school career I was not thrilled with myself as a technician at the time what with my development being impeded by a burgeoning target joint in my right elbow and all. The second attempt to record the song is an especially sad period of time as the sessions were fraught with elbow injuries and the frustrations of improving my infusion technique to administer my medicine more efficiently. I felt a mile away from a project I should have been so much happier to do and so much more involved in.

In late summer 2018, I rerecorded the song with highschool chum and Round of Sound alumnus Jake Sachs. He encouraged me to record new music in an effort to get his sonic stamp on my work, and I wanted to move quickly on an idea, so Journeys got a new lease on life. We recorded everything in one day, and released it March of 2019

In over a decade of existence, the song has not strayed from its initial intent. I had envisioned a low fi minimalist instrumental in the vein of early John Frusciante with soothing synths, arpeggiated guitars, and earnest melodic work. I am proud of the moment I captured here as it's one of my earliest moments of musical significance. Instrumentals have always been important to me.

The entirety of the song was created "in the box" including the guitar tones you hear. Of note are the atmospheric pads throughout the song being created by striking harmonics on a guitar while swelling the volume knob and throwing some delay on the single. It is also worth mentioning that for some reason I had decided to string my guitar with .07 gauge guitar strings (at the time I was using .09s on that guitar.

This was also the first time I hired Samantha Benvissuto to make my art. She did a really interesting job of reading my mind on this.

I hope this song can gift you a quiet confidence that carries you through your afternoon.