Idealist [FLAC Download]

My goal for this album was quite simple: to write great songs. Since the release of my first EP in 2012, I’ve become increasingly enamored with the great singer songwriters of the last century. Writing a great song is no easy task! The discipline is a very fragile combination of technique and inspiration. Over the last four years I spent a lot of time studying the songs of my heroes, practicing writing lyrics, and experimenting with song forms. I wrote lyrics on planes, in cafes and hotel lobbies, in the library, in my bed room, in the park, on the subway. The lyrics to Dream Away were written at Katz’s deli in the Lower East Side. I sat in a quiet section of the deli with nobody near me for all of the afternoon and into the early evening. One pastrami sandwich from Katz’s is two full meals if you cut it in half. Orange flavored Crush sodas can provide essential bursts of creative energy. Katz’s did the trick!

In the end these songs are good reflections of the things I think about. They’re personal. I don’t mind including my sociopolitical point of view in my songs. In fact, those topics inspire me to write. So they’re in there (Bombs Into Wine, Replica, These Words). The overwhelming beauty of nature and the universe made it in there too (Dying Star, The Rain in June). 

1. Dream Away
2. Picture
3. Bombs Into Wine
4. Dying Star
5. The Rain In June.
6. Replica
7. These Words
8. Arizona