Lucid Interval is, broadly, an album about homesickness and feeling out of place. Though I more or less knew what each song was about, I only realized the meaning of the album at the very end of the creative process.

The original impetus for making this EP was hearing Jóhann Jóhannsson's Orphée for the first time - deciding that I might like to follow up my first album, Impermanence, with a short minimalist classical album. Though the direction of what became Lucid Interval is very different from that original seed of an idea, that influence is still apparent in places, especially in the melody of the opening track "Lucid Interval: Rubicons", which was directly inspired by Jóhannsson's "Flight from the City". It was also my intent to write this music with a reduced set-up (no electric guitar) with my remaining time in Japan before moving back to the United States, where I'd begin my next full-length after acquiring a ton of new gear (this is still the plan, but obviously due to COVID the timetable has shifted slightly).

In many ways, Lucid Interval is a direct response to my first album and my own critiques of it. Now that I was comfortable with recording myself, I aimed to record far more acoustic instruments and use less keyboards. I also wanted to put a lot more of my own voice on it, opting not to use any sampled choir effects. The production is a lot better, having started the album from a much better knowledge base in that regard and by virtue of its scoring being a bit less thick.

The most important shift from Impermanence, though, was in the creative process itself. That first record was extremely and precisely directed: I wanted songs to cover very specific topics, and I would write the music very intentionally, often writing lyrics before composing anything. This time, I just played around on a keyboard and my guitar to see what stuck. I would write something and stick with it if it felt right, instead of putting it aside because "it wouldn't fit the concept". I would sing various melodies and design them based on how they felt to sing alongside the guitar or keyboard, and then over time I would sort of figure out what the songs were really about and write the lyrics. On Impermanence, the few instances in which I wrote like this created the finest moments of that record. On Lucid Interval, this mindset lead to another diverse set of songs, all of which still feel like they belong together despite the fact that I sort of got out of my own way this time around.

Another interesting feature is the guitar tuning - I made it up. From low to high, it's D F# C# E B D#. It's a bizarre tuning that works really nicely with fingerstyle, which is how I played the majority of the acoustic guitar parts. Part of me never wants to use it again so it remains a special staple of this album.

And finally, I'm so glad I was finally able to collaborate with Douglas Burke on the album cover. I found this photo in 2016 as I was beginning work on Impermanence and I loved it instantly. I'd intended to use the photo for that first album but I went with my own photo of Lake Champlain, which I think in the end was a better fit for that specific project. Doug's photo of the Powder Point Bridge in Duxbury, MA, minutes from my childhood home, is a better fit for Lucid Interval in my opinion. This music is a bit subtler and more somber, but delicate and beautiful in certain moments and I think the photo elevates the album as a whole. Thank you Doug!

So all that to say, I'm immensely proud of this EP. I think it's early to say, but it may be far better music than that of Impermanence. I'm thrilled with how it ended up and I hope you enjoy it.