There’s this funny thing that’s happened to me a few times throughout my decade-long span of releasing music as Teen Daze. I’m at the end of the project: the album’s finished and titled, the artwork, the bio, it’s all been sorted out. I’ve been working on the songs for, usually, a year or so, fine tuning and editing so that everything is just as I want it to be. Finally, I’ve gotten to the point where I can finally sit back and say “This is done.”

And it’s at this point that I realize what the record is actually about.

You would think that that’s something I would have either known right off the bat, or at the very least figured out along the way.

I have made records that were centred around a cohesive concept, but for the most part the initial creative spark leads the project in a direction. Then after I’ve seen the whole thing through, I look back and realize what I was trying to communicate the whole time.

It’s a hard feeling to pin down. I feel weirdly embarrassed by it actually, like I should have had it figured out at some point during the process, and not at the end. I’ve actually had realizations about the record I’m promoting in interviews, while I’m in the interview. It's always awkward. I kind of stop my answer mid-sentence and go, "Huh, you know, I'm just realizing..."

I’m also totally confused by it. It makes me look back over the whole recording experience like it’s some distant memory. I heard one of the guys from Sigur Rós say that the time between the start of one of their performances, and the end, is just kind of a blur. Their performances are pretty intense, and they’re all pretty locked in. I guess I’m experiencing that similar sensation of being “locked in”, but over a longer period of time, with way more distractions, like, you know, living life. Very rarely have I just dedicated a big section of time to just focus on recording. Still, this feels like a good way to describe it: that feeling when you're so focused on something, that you actually lose sense of time.

So here I am in that position again, and the same thing is happening.

A quick preface to where this record came from. In 2018, I was working on my last record, Bioluminescence. It was the first record I’d had mixed by a specific mix engineer (other than Morning World, which was recorded and mixed by John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone in SF). Bioluminescence was a project where my main goal was to blend two different styles that I love: ambient music and dance music. The mix engineer I was working with was Joel Ford, who I was drawn to initially from his Ford & Lopatin project (technically it was the first Games EP that made me a fan), and I learned very quickly that Joel’s ability to take my somewhat weak, muted sounds, and make them legitimately bump was pretty impressive. But like I said, half the record was on the more ambient side of things, and while he did an incredible job bringing life to those tracks, I realized I had to make a dance record for him to mix.

Almost immediately, I began writing tracks for the next record, and the first song I wrote was called Interior. I honestly don't know why I named it that.

I had been listening to the Four Tet record, “New Energy” a lot, which still remains one of my favourites in his immaculate catalog. (Side note: does he have the most consistent discography of any contemporary electronic artist?) Anyways, I started recording these sequenced modular samples, like floating arpeggios, and dropping a kick underneath them, somewhat akin to what Four Tet does on some spots on New Energy. I started falling down this creative rabbit hole.

I’d made dance music before, but I always tried to make dance songs and not dance tracks. That might be nonsense. What I mean is that I’d never made something that was specifically created to make people dance in a club. I never thought I had that kind of footing in the community where DJs (or at least the DJs that I liked and admired) would actually want to play my tracks. But I had this newfound confidence in knowing that Joel would take these tracks to the next level. So I thought, why not go for it. Why not try and make a dance record.

Okay, so back to my original point. I knew what I wanted to make, but what ended up coming out was so much more.

In my attempt to make a record that was "specifically for the club", I ended up making a record that (hopefully) can serve that purpose, but also (hopefully) engages the listener's imagination.

The way that music can spark imagination is what this record is about. It’s about being 16, lying on your bed, listening to music that transports you to another place. For me, it was dance music. There was a magic that was embedded in it. I had no context for how it was made, or how it was supposed to be consumed. It opened up a new, imagined world.

Now that I'm on the other side, I find myself wanting to give that experience to the listener.

Let's check in on where we’re at in the actual process of the record:

• The final mixes have been sent to the mastering engineer, and should hopefully be wrapped in the next few days. I'm so excited. I described it to someone the other day like this: "I get the music to the 10 yard line. Joel scores the touchdown. The mastering engineer scores the field goal." Fill in your own sports metaphor here if you feel so inclined. Basically, these two roles take music that sounds as good as it can, and makes it sound better. I'm just so stoked to hear what it sounds like mastered.

• We’ve received some absolutely beautiful sketches for the cover art, and have chosen the image we’re going to go with. I’m such a huge fan of this artist, and they truly did not disappoint. I like the idea that if you're reading through all of this, and learning about some of the themes of the record, you'll be able to see the album art and have it all click.

• Still no conversations with the booking agent. It’s so surreal seeing so many tours and festivals being announced this week, and it’s got a bit of a fire burning under me. I guess I’m starting to imagine a world where I’ll get to visit places I love to play music I love, and it makes me pretty excited to hit the road again.

• Lots more web3 convos this week. Trying to essentially plan what would be the most effective way to include this world in the world of the album. Exploring metaverse spaces, minting NFTs of album assets, and dreaming up ways to host a metaverse live show, or maybe series of chats related to web3 stuff. Having so much fun planning this aspect of it.

Thank you again for following along. Talk soon.