Inside Out

I wrote this tune while I was digging into the distance I've felt from friends during... well, all of this (*waves hand at world*). Everyone's had their shutdown moment(s) at some point or another recently, and inevitably, one wonders if one may have contributed to their friends' struggles somehow, especially when they go completely dark. It's hard even in normal times to share the full range of our experiences with friends, good or bad -- and I think technology has only made this harder over the years -- but I think that connection is a super important salve when we face tough moments.

Beam It Over

LYRICS
Hey Adrian
We had your going away
As a secret show in your Mission place
Before SF decayed
We were blown away
By tunes the special guest played
He sang of white plains and Romanian names

Once we'd gone,
You and Megan danced alone
To a mix including Marvin Gaye
So of course she cried
Over limits left on time
And the fact you could have stayed

Hey Adrian
I've made these movements you make
I know the floating when the root ball doesn't take
But all I could say
In a flat with lights turning on
And people leaving is, We'll message when you're gone.

But really, it's not tough for us to keep you
In a circuit that's growing past San Fran
I'd guess your heaviness gets somewhat easier to stow
If you go
Carrying the folk 
You learned here

And believe that mobile favor
Is connection you can cash anytime for free
Even if you move to southern tips of continents
If you ebb, someone can see
Even when you've moved to southern tips of continents
When you ebb, someone can see.

Transplanting

My brother waits on the driveway
With his short pants and a suitcase
I'm in the window, and I'm about five
So I don't recall that our dad does not arrive

My mother gave me her journals
There's a daily log of drug use, but no internals
I'm on the pages, and I seem fine
But the lines remind that my track goes a ways back

The difference between my family and me
Isn't as great as therapy can let it seem
History makes you ornamental
So dwell in the days where you can change
Even just a little bit.

Ornamental

Combs is the lead track off the debut EP by Completions, available 10.09.15.

Combs

Word Balloons

My friend moved abroad, so I wrote this song for him.

Christmas in Berlin

Shawn Alpay named his project Completions as an internal reminder to finish things.  
 
Alpay has served as a cellist with many projects, including Father John Misty, Laura Stevenson, Whitney, and How to Dress Well. He also worked extensively as an engineer at analog studio Tiny Telephone. But all this meant that his own creations remained deprioritized and half-done.
 
The name of Alpay’s debut LP, releasing Sept 23, 2022, is also a reminder: I Needed Help. The last couple of years presented him a great, if grim, opportunity to reckon with a lifetime of depending only on himself. Therapy, current events, marriage, and a serious back surgery laid the creative foundation for a batch of songs that circle around a singular theme: how can we let other people in, especially when we don't want to?
 
With that in mind, Alpay fleshed out the album arrangements by leaning on his friends, including Dave Depper (Death Cab for Cutie), Kelly Pratt (Father John Misty, Beirut), and Laura Stevenson.