Howdy,

I think I might finally be decompressed after producing No Gods Above the Sand. That project was intense and took a lot of creative energy. The subject was also harsh, and I spent many nights dreaming about endless dry landscapes and monsters.

I took a few days off from even thinking about music. I just hung out with my kids and spent some time without headphones on my head.

And what do you think happened?

I started whistling the chorus for a new song.

I can’t turn it off!

I ended up back in the studio, opened Google Docs, and started writing. I had no plan, just words on digital paper.

“I’m tired.”

Those were the first two words, and they were honest.

I sat there looking at them for a few minutes before a stupid smile formed on my face, and I knew exactly what I wanted to write about.

Negative Priming is a song about a ghost who is being ghosted… while not knowing she’s a ghost.

The absurd outrage of the situation made me chuckle. And, of course, there’s a bit of horror in her situation if you think too hard about it. I liked the idea of a heavy-metal Casper-style ghost who is essentially her own one-woman band.

I’m tired of being ghosted
by you

You look right through me
See right past me
I’m here!

I’m tired of being ghosted
by you

The chorus was stuck in my head before I even had words for it.

As far as the music goes: cello plugin and my seven-string. Two of my favorite things to combine when I’m working on something dramatic.

I sang this one and had Lyra sample my voice, and she absolutely kicked ass with the delivery.

I also spent some time playing with Mini Max H3 Max to create a music video. I drew my ghost chick a few times, used those drawings in my prompts, and just like that, my ghost was alive and jamming.

Once that was complete, I sort of felt… restored.

Creatively hydrated.

It was a fun project that I was able to produce in just two days. And with that finished, I started thinking about my next project and pulled out my idea notebook.

Picture a light-blue notebook full of pages containing random thoughts and ideas that have absolutely nothing to do with the notes around them. Some are written in haste. Some are in crayon. Others have diagrams.

I usually lose this notebook about once per week.

Then, when I find it, I’m always thinking:

“Oh yeah! I remember what I was working on!”

It’s like an ADHD gift from the god of random shit.

Well, I opened the notebook to a random page, and there she was.

MURDER HOBO MARTHA

Murder Hobo Martha

Just three words and a drawing of two treasure chests sitting next to each other.

No other notes.

I remembered the stupid idea I had about a person trying to “out-mimic” a mimic, and immediately started cracking up.

It was time to make something really, really stupid.

The story is simple.

Martha lives in a game world where everyone is eventually given a class and a class rank.

Martha was born one of the most stubborn women alive. When the system finally assigned her a class, she got:

Fighter. Rank F.

No useful abilities.

And her HP rolled about as low as it possibly could.

Martha had a hard time at adventurers’ guilds, taverns, and all the other places where parties were formed. Nobody wanted a useless party member.

So Martha took all that disappointment and rage and made a choice:

“FUCK YOU ALL!”

Our hero then decides to take an incredibly stupid risk and ends up with her respawn point locked inside a dungeon 79 levels too high for her.

The album is about her descent into madness.

And we get to come along for the ride.

So, somehow, after finishing a giant 24-track desert nightmare, two ladies joined the Android 86 server: one who doesn’t realize she’s dead, and another who is far too stubborn to stay dead.

I hope you enjoy them.

Both projects were an absolute blast to make, and they’re available now to listen to.