On August 1st, I will be releasing a new album called It Is What It Is, You Know What I Mean? by an artist persona of mine called Sweat Glass Halo.
I was writing a caption in my notes app for an Instagram post announcing the album, but I got carried away and ended up writing a mini-essay reflecting on my thoughts and insecurities regarding the album’s upcoming release. It was too long to fit into the Instagram caption so I shortened it, but I thought it’d be nice to have a record of the full version here on my site.
From January through to April, I dedicated most of my time to writing and recording demos for this album, and at the end of that period I ended up with around 22 songs. I took the majority of those songs and, over a month from mid-April to mid-May, I recorded them all, eventually trimming the tracklist down to 14 songs.
Every musician or artist ever will always say this about their latest release, but I am REALLY proud of this album. I’m the most proud I’ve been for at least a year, probably even longer! Again, it’s cliche, but I’m being 100% genuine when I say I think this album is something special, and I can only hope you guys will feel the same way.
This album also feels quite special to me personally as it kind of marks the end of a chapter in my life, now that I’m moving out of my childhood home in Nottingham and planning on continuing my adult life in Glasgow this Autumn. The closing track “NOW: That’s What I Call Closure” is all about that, and more – it’s just an expression of my strong desire over the past year to escape college and my hometown and become a stranger in a new place.
As proud as I am of this album and its contents, I will also openly admit that I feel a bit insecure about releasing it. I generally feel a little more insecure with every album I release, because a little (metaphorical) voice in my head tells me that the more music I release, the less of an emotional impact it will have, similar to how inflation devalues money.
When someone releases their 2nd or 3rd album, it’s usually a big deal to their family, friends and fans, but when you get to the 12th or 13th album, it starts to look gimmick-y, and people who cared more in the past generally care less, or at least are less emotionally impacted.
I’m just afraid that this album, and the many future ones to come, will be seen as “just another one of his little albums” by my family, friends and fans, and that my already-fairly-developed discography will only be properly appreciated once I’m dead, since that’s probably the only thing that will stop my creative output. It’s the idea that once you run out of seeds, you suddenly care more about each plant that already exists.
Moving away from all that existential shit though, the key takeaway here is that I made a new album and I love it to bits, and you and I both know that I’m always going to share stuff I’m proud of, regardless of who it reaches or how much of an impact I make. Even if it does end up as “just another one of his little albums”… it is what it is, you know what I mean?