Reflecting on the past couple of years, I have found myself in a strange state of flux. Though I’ve been stuck at home or just stuck in my head, the thing that has kept me going has been creating. Looking to the future. Gaining a sense of adventure. This album is a representation of that. The man that is Lord Velvet is a courageous character, someone who isn’t afraid of the unpaved trail ahead. Someone who yearns for freedom and future, yet still fantasizes about the past. A man lost in the stars, yet rooted to the ground. Funny, yet reserved. A walking contradiction. As the album progresses into “Catalyzed,” the first glimmer of nostalgia creeps into view. A spark of love, found in the strangest of circumstances. Walk into the “El Dorado” motel, a place that encapsulates the mindset of the modern-day world. A world where what you believe is the truth. This was inspired by a real-life motel I passed while driving in southern Florida. The perfect dichotomy of pristine and rundown. “The Things of Man” is inspired by one of my favorite movies of all time Joe vs. the Volcano. Perhaps this was playing on the television in the motel as Lord Velvet ponders his past with a former lover. As he falls into a slumber, he suddenly dreams of a year stuck in quarantine in “Waiting for Spring.” Or did that really happen? Either way, he can’t remember as each day morphed into one. But that dream turns into a nightmare in “Sweat Lodge.” Scenes of fevers, sickness, red lights, and the ferryman of Hades himself appear. As he awakens in the dead of night, Lord Velvet is a man alone with his thoughts. In a room where his only friend is an upright piano, he laments on being the “King of Pain.” A king absorbed in his own unhappiness, remembering those he had left behind. As the sun rises and he looks in awe around him. The beautiful streets of Elysium and the Elysian “Fields.” Is this heaven? Or is it simply just a shiny veneer hiding the corruption and contempt for those seen as lesser. Disillusioned, Lord Velvet finds himself on the beach in “Washing of the Water.” A swelling tide and a downpour cleanse this man once and for all. As he looks to the sky, he senses a closing of a chapter. A moment in time that he won’t forget. The sounds of a timpani echo in the room. A rhapsody entrances the listeners. The crowd is calling his name. It’s showtime once again for Lord Velvet. As he steps on stage, a new man, he calls for a world of compassion and love. A world that takes care of each other. Yes we can, I know we can can.