released May 1st, 2026
Scarecrow is the first album I made to feature full originally written lyrics and vocals. This album began life in late 2024-early 2025 as "Hem",
a very scrappily put together project relying far too much on reminding people of other musicians. That's a thing I struggle with a lot, often times
when someone says "Hey, you remind me of ___!", I end up taking that as "Oh, so I should just make music like this person and everyone will love it!"
I escaped this mostly when it came to writing instrumental stuff which is why post-Future was able to flourish the way it did, but when it came to Hem,
the writing process was foundationally always "It's gotta sound like this person or else it isnt good enough!" ..which led to mostly very uninspired tracks.
The plan for Hem was to write a ton of songs and record demos of them early in the year, release post-Future, and then record final versions of the Hem tracks
for release in 2026. By the time I'd released post-Future, I was looking at Hem thinking "I really want to work on more music, and I don't want to abandon my"
plan, but most of these are..." ..and so, I just kind of.. sat with them for a few months, didn't bat an eye at them, didn't think about what my "next album"
would be for my own sanity. But around September/October, something came into my life very prominently that brought back my desire and drive to say what I have to say,
and that was the documentary Your Friend Logan.
If you aren't aquainted, Logan Whitehurst was an extremely talented singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist,
inspired by the likes of They Might Be Giants (like me!!!), and recorded his music at home, very scrappily, and prominently only released it digitally (LIKE ME!!!)
Ever since I started listening to his music, I felt a very strong connection to him.. I'd watched the documentary already when it released in August, but when my Blu-Ray
of it arrived, I obviously decided to rewatch it.. then I rewatched it again.. and again... at the end of the movie, they talk about the legacy Logan left after his passing,
and that really started sinking in the more times I rewatched the movie. There was no one, and I believe there will never be anyone quite like Logan, but those he inspired,
they carry his legacy forth... and that is what snapped me out of it. "I don't need to be writing music like other people! I need to be writing music like MYSELF! And maybe
it'll sound like some artists I like, but of course it will, they're MY inspirations!" And very quickly soon after, I started writing a new batch of songs, respectfully tapping
into all of the influences I've had over the years. A couple of songs from Hem stuck around (The Middle Stream and The Lobster Speaks, to be exact), but everything else, pure 100% Scarecrow.
One of the songs I chose to cover for Scarecrow (A Special Gift To You) was originally written by Logan Whitehurst, the original recording was by The Velvet Teen, one of the
bands he was part of. I highly recommend going and checking it out! (While you're at it, check out his initial demo of the track, too! Both recordings influenced my cover...)
One of the songs I chose to cover for Hem was Your Brain Fell Out, one of my favorite tracks by Logan. I ended up finishing this cover and contributing it to the Junior Science Fair album,
a wonderful collaborative Logan tribute album, which I also recommend you check out! Lots of very talented people on that project.
The other song I chose to cover for Scarecrow was Snowball In Hell, the obligatory They Might Be Giants cover I couldn't not shove down peoples throats for my debut vocal record.
I recorded this with my friend Joseph Kurzfeld, and very talented musician and accordionist Luke Hennisch, which is a high I have not come down from! I love that guy!!! Aah!!!!
Two other tracks from Hem were given a release. Endless Reality! and They Know (...But They're Okay), which appear on the Dead End EP, Scarecrows companion/B-side EP.
Now with all my sentimental junk outta the way, I can speak a little more about the rest of the album... I've not done this before, but here's a track-by-track commentary:
Dialtone Predicament, which ended up becoming the albums first and only single, was initially planned to be a much less shouted about track, and is one of my few songs to feature
a very drastically different Demo Version. I remember wracking my brain trying to finish this version of the song, I'd sent it to a friend who really really liked it, but I just wasnt having it.
I wanted it to be track 2 of the record, with a track 1 I ended up completely scrapping... the moment I threw in the towel and reimagined it faster and more exciting, I knew immediately that
this album had the power to rule above all else.. very quickly I decided to forego my original plans and make it the album single. I even gave it a music video. Sorry!
Far Too Late parts 1 and 2 are probably the most personal on the album. The lyrics aren't super explicit, but to a degree they came from some very real struggle in my life at the time.
Dead End, ended up replacing Proto-Dialtone as my token-lowkey banger track of the album.. inevitably, people started talking about it more so I'm sure that title belongs to a different track now.
Behind Far Too Late, I'd honestly say Dead End is the most personal on the record, a lot of the lyrics came out of long-unaddressed feelings I had after a large amount of accumulated projects that
crashed and burned due to heavy creative burnout, or simply poorly thought out execution. (like Hem! wow!!!) The title is vaguely a reference to something that came out in September of 2025,
But I'm not telling. I also made a lot of the songs instrumental with samples from the game Hypnospace Outlaw, which I think you should play. That is all
I started writing Total ReKall the night I watched the 1990 film Total Recall. The song kind of references the movie, but mostly I tried to base it off of what I thought the movie might kind of be
based on the title alone. Also the first instance on the album of very overt references to a specific video game I'd mysteriously started being obsessed with again in mid-to-late 2025. Figure it out!
Not really here nor there but later on I found out that OK Glass, who contributed to something else for Scarecrow, had ALSO written a song named after Total Recall.... whoops......
The Middle Stream was one of the tracks I pulled from Hem... the lyrics are mostly unchanged and I only altered the production a tiny bit, all the vocals were new though.
I don't entirely remember what my original intended messaging of the song was, the idea of "middle-stream media" came from my infatuation with artwork that gets a surprising amount of talk
for being made by a very small amount of people who don't get much press aside from it.. then I forgot about that entirely and turned it into some sort of metaphor for the political climate or something..
When rewriting some of the song, I also ended up spinning that idea, an in-between state people might not talk about too much, to also double as a reference to Something. You could easily call it
poorly-written, I call it hype moments and aura, which I think is valid in its own right. I also referenced Where Your Eyes Don't Go by They Might Be Giants, because of course I did.
They Might Be Ghouls! Because of course I did. Just a purely referential song, "They seem to be lost" > They Got Lost, "in their ectoplasmic van" > "Econoline van", and so on... a lot of people in my audience happen
to also like TMBG so I figured being this blatant would probably be charming for a majority of fans. The whole bit is that its like They Might Be Giants but they're spooky and scary. That is all
The Lobster Speaks was ALSO off of Hem! I'd actually already released this song on YouTube, featuring the original mix and no lead-in intro, I didn't re-record it or anything which makes it a little jarring on Scarecrow,
but I think that works in its favor. Foundationally, it nods to the poem "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster", then I went off the rails. I just wanted a lobster to speak, damnit!
Jittermouth is fun. I don't want to compare myself to Jay Kay or Jamiroquai but my love for that band is 100% why this song is like that. Totally 100% coincidentally, Jittermouth
also happens to be about a "Space Cowboy". Uhuh.. I don't have much to say about this song, just go listen to it, it's a grand old time, I'm sure you'll agree!
The Nightlight wasn't initially made for Hem, but it was made closer to Hem... one very scaled-back demo was released as a download on this website! "Sleeptime-Computing" is a reference to
Hypnospace Outlaw, which is a game I think you should play. The song centrally focusing on a nightlight is vaguely a nod to Birdhouse In Your Soul by They Might Be Giants, because of couse it is.
My friend Josie/johark co-wrote and sung on it, she also influenced me to write the bridge in 7/4. Neat, cool! This was the last song I completed for Scarecrow, and I wasn't entirely happy with
it when I originally finished it, but it's grown on me tons. yippee!
DELTARUNE Chapter 3 came out, and with it, the beautiful gorgeous masterpiece known as "TV WORLD" on the games soundtrack, which has had an irreversible effect on my psyche. I ended up making
Certain Impending Doom, mostly a product of pure TV WORLD derangement. At one point, I was considering naming the album after this track, but it sounded too scary... for whatever reason.
Finally, a long time coming, Bees With Chainsaws: The Song! Tons of people said they wanted me to write a song about actual bees with chainsaws, I'd been wanting to write a song about actual
bees with chainsaws, i spun it like 6 different ways before finally bringing this to any form of actual existence, and then completion. If I have to say it flat-out, yes, I was slightly inspired
by They Might Be Giants' self-titled song, because of course I was. I also sampled Richard Burton from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. That is all
A lovely thing about running my own website like this is that literally no one can convince me writing an absurdly long page about 1 singular album that will only be included on an even bigger page
featuring all my other albums is a bad idea! Whats even funnier is that this page may actually be MORE informative than the Scarecrow Landing Page now!
whatever, it's fine, it's my album, dammit, let me yap! In conclusion, if you like my music, go listen to Logan Whitehurst, also play Hypnospace Outlaw.