Hi everyone in the internet world. I'm writing to update on what I've been doing these past few months. I've purposefully been taking it easy on the business side of being a musician since the summer. Sometimes the websites, the booking of shows, the self-promotion, etc. all gets to be a thick cloud that comes between me and what I'm really trying to do: make music.

To pull back the curtain a little more, I have no team helping me with these things, and I usually have to spend more time being my own manager than I do being an artist. So since the late spring/early summer, I've allowed myself to get back to what I love. To be honest, it has taken a lot of the self-imposed pressure of "making it" off my shoulders, and it has been great.

So while it may seem things have been quiet around here, behind the scenes some of the most important things - as I see it, anyway - have been going on. What have I been up to? Recording a new album, for one. I'm taking my time on it and it's going to be a little different from anything I've released before. I've mentioned this here and there, but it's going to be a sort of story album. I realize that in this new age of the download single, when some people are (falsely) predicting the death of the album as both a concept and a reality, the idea of a story album might seem out of place. I don't think it is. First, each of these songs will be able to stand on its own, out of context of the album. More importantly, though, I think that in a world of constant distraction, the idea of cohesion becomes more appealing. Unfortunately, the idea of an album is often boiled down to a random assortment of songs with little connection beyond being on the same piece of plastic. But a true album with some sort of cohesion, even if that cohesion is the capturing of a specific time and place in an artist's career, is a beautiful thing. Enough rant...

The other thing I've been up to is writing. Not just songs, but long fiction. And to take the album another step forward, I'm writing the full story that the album has created into a short novel. Although they probably won't be released at the same time, I'm hoping that not too long after the album is finished, I'll self-publish the novel.

Once 2011 hits, I'll be back in full swing, promoting, playing shows, and doing it all. But for the next couple months I'll be busy offline, writing and recording. There will be some updates along the way, so check back soon.  As always, thanks for listening.

-Patrick