A few years ago, I decided to return to a hobby I had not touched since college: songwriting. 

It had been almost two decades since I’d last sat down with a guitar and a pad of paper and attempted to fashion a song out of the chords I knew and whatever words I could finagle into meter. 

Over those years, I’d taught English, worked as a journalist overseas, managed communications at an international nonprofit and worked as a consultant on a government contract. I had also married and become a father to three kids and a dog. 

To be clear, it’s not as if I had turned away from a career in music - that was never in the cards. I had simply let an interest of mine go untended for a very long time. 

But then an unplanned visit to Guitar Center awakened that old itch to make music. The synths on display seemed to call to me in sine waves and square waves. And then at home, the strings on my old Taylor guitar begged to be strummed. 

Before I knew it, I was piecing together songs. 

It felt good to do this again. 

So I have kept at it for the last four years, learning all I can during spare moments — and letting the synths and guitar lead me down the path of new creation. 

After recording some ambient and electronic compositions as Settled Seas and lllyre, I decided to try my hand (once again) at writing lyrics and singing along with the music I was making. 

The four songs I’ll release on July 20 under the name Mount Pappy are a few of the better ones I wrote during the waning months of the pandemic. The songs touch on topics relating to my life as a husband and father: I sing about older child adoption, parenthood, family and marriage. You can preview one of the new tracks here. 

Thank you for listening.

You'll Always Be My Baby

The handful of personal songs that comprise Zany Days serve as a sort of barometer for where I find myself in 2022 — a husband, a father of three — including twins born during the pandemic, a professional writer and a fledgling songwriter/producer.

The tracks have a demo-like feel with their spare instrumentation and unadorned vocals — fitting, perhaps, because of their intimate reflections of life in 2022.

You Drew A Crooked Line

Two Brothers Playing

Zany Days

Our Tumbled Stones Were Treasures (Single)

Our Tumbled Stones Were Treasures

Our Tumbled Stones Were Treasures (Settled Seas)

The Land of More

The Land Of More (Annawood)

Worlds Within Worlds

Worlds Within Worlds (Settled Seas)

A Moment To Myself in Renmin Park

I-10 To China (Goodbyes)

I Want To Live Here When I Grow Up

Searching For Sand Dollars

Almost Drowned (Piano Version)

A mix of ambient and downtempo electronic music produced by Charlie Shifflett under the name lllyre

Dog Days

Always I Will Be With You

Charlie Shifflett is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer releasing music as Settled Seas, Mount Pappy,  lllyre and Annawood. Charlie’s music straddles the genres of jazz, ambient, and folk, incorporating sounds from synths, acoustic guitar, piano and Chinese flutes. Learn more: https://wcshifflett.com/music

Annawood / Settled Seas / Mount Pappy / lllyre

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