Ardley

I'm releasing this music under the moniker 'Ardley' to distinguish it from the rest of my musical output and to pay homage to the street in Oakland where I lived as a kid. As with everyone, those years were the lens through which my vision of the world was shaped. My folks wanted my childhood to be great, and for the most part it was. Tons of fond memories; I can still feel the excitement of imagination, exploration, and growing awareness of the world around me. Still, the beautiful times were shaded with tension. Some of it was normal kid stuff and some of it specific to that time and place. The wonder of childhood against the backdrop of the drug, AIDS, and poverty epidemics. Intensely urban life against the overwhelmingly beautiful landscape of the Bay Area. The increasing enthusiasm for life against the increasing awareness of fragility and death. I wouldn't have been able to articulate it then, but I had some awareness that life was complex, and that combination of beauty and tension is an emotional tone that I've felt as long as I can remember. I'd imagine that we all feel some version of that, and that's what makes it an interesting idea to me. This project is an exploration of that contrast. These aren't meant to be songs, they're meant to be feelings. This isn't music about those feelings; this music is those feelings....at least that was my goal.