friends.chasetremaine.com

It all comes full circle. This is as much the end of an era as it is the beginning of an exciting new journey.

Full disclosure, I originally thought I'd be releasing Unfall II in 2021, maybe 2022 at the latest. As many of you know, a b-sides EP ballooned into a sophomore album (D&C, which was recorded two whole times), then an acoustic sister-songs EP evolved into my third album (which received a lavish deluxe edition, to boot!), so plans got stretched out quite a bit. Yet though the timeline changed vastly, the intentions behind Unfall II stayed exactly the same across these past four years.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, I had just released my debut album, with hopes of forming a band of players so that the songs could be performed live, with all their guitar riffs and vocal harmonies and other intricacies in tact. As I settled into an increasingly lengthy shutdown, with all dreams of concerts effectively dashed for the foreseeable future, I began to cope with the fact that if I was going to be performing music at all, it would be in the context of solo, acoustic performances, either in small group settings or livestreams.

However, I genuinely hated the idea of converting the songs from Unfall into acoustic renditions. In my mind, the arrangements and layers and background vocals were all so integral to the songwriting that it simply didn't make sense to strip these songs down. It didn't feel like I could do them justice. (I eventually found a satisfying middle ground by creating looper-pedal arrangements of the songs, but that's beside the point.) That's when I had the idea: what if I create new versions of these songs that are intended to be just one guitar and one vocal? What if I compose new interpretations of these songs that are perfect for the acoustic performance setting because they were written specifically for that context?

Enter: the sequel songs. These are compositions which continue the musical and thematic ideas of the originals, yet where lyric and melody take precedence over all, placing my vocals atop simpler-than-normal guitar work that's tailor-made for livestreams, coffee shops, and campfires. And this gave me the challenge to craft the best lyrics and strongest melodies of my career to date, with no flashy guitar riffs or off-kilter drum beats to bolster them. Overall, I'm proud of how I stepped up to this challenge. Sure, I wouldn't expect anyone to think that these six songs are literally the six best lyrics with the six best sets of melodies of my whole discography, but nevertheless, I'm extremely proud of how these songs came out and what they point to for the future of my music-making.

You may not know this, but my three studio albums contain songs that were almost exclusively written prior to 2020. D&C has two exceptions, but thirteen of its fifteen tracks were written between 2010 and 2019. I share that because Unfall II marks a significant transition point for me: the point where I am saying farewell to everything I wrote prior to the release of Unfall. From this point forward, everything I release will be music and lyrics from the 2020's. Thus this EP simultaneously points to the past and to the future, honoring where I started while representing the firstfruits of the newest music I've been writing.

Unfall II is a transitional release for me in another sense: it marks the end of this season of quick successions of studio releases and official new albums. Across these past four years, I released Unfall, two versions of D&C, three versions of Accidental Days, a live-in-studio album (Questions at Thirty), and now Unfall II (which was recorded in the same studio as D&C, QA30, and the bonus tracks for AD Deluxe). As I enter this new season of life, I will be stepping away from studio time for a while, at least for the entirety of 2024. It's possible that my next official studio rock album might not release until 2026.

But I do not plan on slowing down in the meantime. If anything, things are gearing up like never before -- but it's happening in the context of my home studio, where alongside writing some of the most exciting music I've ever made, I've been investing much of my time, resources, and energy in developing my production skills. I never plan to replace real studios, experienced producers, or high quality instruments, yet as I've been learning, I've been able to create recordings of songs at standards higher than I ever thought I'd be capable of by myself. But I'm creating these new songs and homemade recordings for a dedicated, private audience; if you'd like to join, I'd love for you to check out friends.chasetremaine.com