Maiden King - Who Else Were We Supposed to Become? - Mint- LP Record 2023 Self Released Blue Vinyl - Chicago Electric / Ambient / Electroacoustic

The LP was written to mythologize a number of wandering memories that kept floating into focus during the early months of the pandemic. The first moment of derealization as a young man; a rambunctious tale of arson in the shadow of a bigger fight with a dear friend; escaping the mire of one’s self esteem; and finally a moment (or two) of quiet acceptance. Though seemingly disparate, the coalescence of all of these began to paint a clearer picture. The title is completely rhetorical, a kind of matter of fact reckoning with the person you were always going to become and the peace that can finally settle when you stop fighting it.

The record was written at home and recorded at Shirk Studios in Chicago, IL. It was engineered, mixed and co-produced by Stephen Shirk, with some serious heavy lifting on behalf of Sam Subar, a brilliant young drummer who helped breathe so much life into these songs where I couldn’t. I demoed and/or got as far as mixing on two other albums prior to this one but couldn’t find my way in to the songs anymore. Some were too old, some just belonged more to a younger version of myself that I no longer relate to, some just weren’t good enough for me. But something magical and strange happened when I gave myself permission to throw away all those songs and the music that became this record was able to live and breathe freely.