This album was recorded throughout 2019 and early 2020. It was conceived in both Hendersonville, NC and Spartanburg, SC during a period where I was working in Asheville, NC and was staying in a mountain home that was graciously lent to me by family. While in this house without air, heat, or internet, I reflected on isolation and the self-imposed isolation of my youth, I was going weeks at a time barely speaking to anyone until I went home for the weekend and began to feel incredibly disconnected. I reflected on times throughout high school when I felt as though I couldn't express myself through words at all, and would sometimes barely speak for days on end.

This was one of the themes that led me to think of the concept of vacuity, the other being the unfortunate circumstances that we live in where a majority of society seems to content to take "empty" information at face value without exercising any critical thinking. For example, someone working with the white house can publicly say something that has little to no meaning but sounds good enough to someone who is hoping to cling to something that makes them feel safe that they automatically cling to, and then dismiss the thing being said without even realizing that they are afraid to contemplate what it might actually mean.

At about the halfway point of this album taking some sort of coherent (I hope) shape, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, an experience that undoubtedly colored the end result, even though I find myself surprised at how hopeful that some of this music sounds to me now. I set out with the intention of showcasing one side of my interpretation of cinematic music, while I will soon be beginning work on another release that will be a more "full band" effort that will be less abstract and ambient than what you now hear. The album was recorded with very minimal means, mostly just me running my instruments direct into a small, cheap handheld recorder that is mostly used for field recordings. All of the tracks are single takes, and "Exploration #4" and"Estraven" were entirely improvised on the spot.

The following people helped me bring this album to life:
If you've seen a Wounded Hollow show over the past two years, then you've probably seen me perform with the fantastic percussionist and dear friend Scott Middleton. Scott plays in both Bask (Seasons of Mist Records) and Khandroma, both of whom I implore you to check out.

Kolby Carrouth played percussion on "Monadic" and also mixed the album. He is a great musician and person and he also plays drums with Irises and Satori Tree, both of whom I implore you to check out.

Aerin Blue played cello on "Monadic", they are also a great musician and person and makes amazing ritualistic music in Transformation Rite, whom I implore you to check out.

Jeremy Wilson also helped mix the album and did a mix of "Monadic" that is one of my favorite moments from the album by far. He is also a great musician and person and makes ambient music as Infinite Medium, whom I implore you to check out.

The album art was done by Sierra Carmean, who is a very skilled and inspired tattoo artist living in Asheville, NC. I happened to see some of her work some time ago that felt somewhat reminiscent to me of western NC scenes as interpreted through traditional Japanese calligraphy, which resonated with me in some way. She is awesome and her work can be found here:
www.zeninkasheville.com/sierra

Some books that I was reading that inspired me during the making of this album were: The Lathe of Heaven and Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Leguinn, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and certain works, talks, and meditations by Ram Dass.