I started work on this album after being put out of work in June of 2020. I’d been traveling for my job for a really long time, and when I came home I was a bit lost. The first night I got home I dreamt of a song. When I woke up I picked up my guitar for the first time in about a year and wrote the song Ambulance. From then on, I spent a lot of time re-learning to play my instruments, since I hadn’t had access to them for so long (in addition to the fact that I was suuupppeerrr rusty on guitar to begin with, it’s been a REALLY long time) and getting back in touch with some older music that I’d been putting off listening to for a while. Originally, this album was gonna have a much more upbeat vibe, but as we delved deeper into the pandemic, that vibe disintegrated and devolved into what’s easily the most emotionally vulnerable Blue Hole album to date. After scrapping the original version of the album (Slate and Tents are the only original versions that made it on the record) I went on a musical tangent into Cosmonaut, born out of me rediscovering synths and trying to capture the magic that I had with Osmosis. Whether or not I was successful is debatable, but it was a great excursion to get my mind in the right place to finish Songs Of Isolation, the right way. 

Most of these songs were recorded alone, between the hours of 2-6 A.M.. Nearly all percussion was made by hand with various objects laying around the studio. All of the vocals were recorded in a week-long stretch on my couch. As far as lyrics, production, instrumentation, and overall execution go, this is easily the most intimate album I’ve ever even attempted, let alone released, and the emotions expressed here are all real and very important to me. I feel like this marks the beginning of a new era for Blue Hole and my musical output, as my music continues to bind itself tighter and tighter to my personality and emotion. In my mind, my anxiety makes me feel like I’m too old for this type of thing and every album feels like my last. I’m turning 23 on the 15th of October, so I have to keep reminding myself that I’m (hopefully) just beginning, and not to beat myself up too badly. If I keep making things that I can be this proud of, that shouldn’t be too hard. 

Thanks for listening, 
Jake

SISTER

BIG CRUMBLE

WAITING

SEVEN

PIGGY

EYES

FIREFLY

AMBULANCE

TOO HIGH

My second album. Now, with vocals, it leans much more toward being sweet and melodic than noisy.

Blue Hole

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