Unwell

Unrelated to the upcoming compilation, I recently received a request for a playlist of my more soothing and grounding tracks to accompany classroom mindfulness breaks. Thus I’ve put together this mix of some of my more chill, less “out there” works for relaxation, study, etc. It’s an honor to have these ambient excursions put to work this way!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2e214GMcOvH61HzM5zNiYX?si=3-4hwkAMS--qCLyQsY7now

Unwell - The Most Chill Playlist · imtv · 17 items · 1 saves

This October 26th marks the 12th anniversary of the first Unwell album. In honor of that I’ve been working on something different: “Change Is Real: Selected Transmissions 2013-2023” will be a compilation of my ambient works spanning 10 years, 20 tracks totaling over 2 hours, illustrating the evolution of this project. I took some care selecting these pieces based on (1) how well they’ve held up over the years, (2) how they represent the different sounds this project has explored, and (3) how they flow together as a whole. My aspiration is that it will serve as a fun retrospective for those familiar with these albums, a solid crash course for those who aren’t, and a rewarding listening experience for anyone who appreciates instrumental soundscapes. This cover art was drawn spontaneously sometime in 2016 and was chosen because I feel it reflects the tension between structure and fluidity this kind of music forces one to explore.

In preparation for a 10-year retrospective compilation, I've been listening back to my early albums from the beginning. Most of them were more or less tossed off and sound like it, but this one had some honest effort and is the first I still consider "good." I'd entirely forgotten about the piano composition that opens and closes this piece, which hit me like a startling time capsule of my 17-year-old melancholia... Far enough away to be another world but still intimately familiar, and now I can't get it out of my head. Weird how that goes. Real ones remember.

Winter Left a Note on the Door, by Unwell from the album Your Eyes Were Wide With Some Obscenity Your Lips Could Never Produce