As an introduction, this is a playlist that includes some original tracks that I have written and produced along with some of my favorites from other artists. Enjoy 😀

Melancholic Frolic

we can't be friends (wait for your love)

Background: Like parallel lines, sometimes the lives of two people are moving in the same direction and often in the same circles, but convergence is never a possibility. So close in proximity and direction, but destined to forever be apart. 

[Verse 1]
You cut the room on a diagonal grin
I trace the tremor of your blushing skin
We’re pulling pulses from the same bassline
Two bright markers on the same skyline
You look once—subtle flickers in reply
I look twice—tell myself don’t try
We match footsteps like a well-tuned pact
Same tempo, babe, just different tracks

[Pre-Chorus]
Every night we almost make a shape
Close enough to breathe it, never brave the break
We line up pretty for the camera flash
Then duck the moment, pull the safety latch

[Chorus]
We run side by side, never overlap
Same beat, same heat, same thunderclap
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks
We flirt with the edge, then we reel it back
A whisper from a kiss, but it fades to black
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks

[Verse 2]
We share a compass with the north worn thin
Your north is mine, but the door stays pinned
I hear your laugh like a distant sign
Billboard promise on a highway line
We’re city lights in a windshield blur
I mouth your name and you mouth mine—sure
We almost cross at the cul-de-sac
Spin in circles, then we snap right back

[Pre-Chorus]
Every night we almost make a shape
Close enough to breathe it, never brave the break
We stage an ending we can’t enact
Curtain calls without the third-act crack

[Chorus]
We run side by side, never overlap
Same beat, same heat, same thunderclap
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks
We flirt with the edge, then we reel it back
A whisper from a kiss, but it fades to black
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks

[Bridge]
Call it almost, call it déjà vu
Paper dolls that never cut through
We trace a future in a pencil line
Then blow the graphite like a party sign
Close like echoes in a marble hall
Touch the air and swear we felt it all
Your shadow kisses mine—impact refracts
And just like that, the moment retracts

[Breakdown]
Side by side (side by side)
Time after time (time after time)
We aim, we align—then we pull the slack
Heart says go, head says keep it intact

[Final Chorus]
We run side by side, never overlap
Same beat, same heat, same thunderclap
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks
We flirt with the edge, then we reel it back
Postcard love with the postage stacked
In rhythm, in rhyme, in mirrored acts
Same road, same speed—different tracks

[Outro]
Lights change—green to gold to black
You go forward, I don’t look back
Still moving, still tuned to the same soundtrack—
Same road, same speed… different tracks.

Different Tracks

Background: The title of the track refers to the emotional flatness that often follows the end of relationships with the realization that one has lost their identity.  The feelings that once carried genuine weight have unconsciously given way to superficial, performative acts. When one is fortunate, this initial, emotional numbness can transform itself into the clear-headed resolve and rediscovery of one's self---which, at its core, is primary to existence.      

[Verse 1]
Plastic cups, I’m nursing water, playing hostess to my doubt
All the jokes feel dubbed and distant, like a sitcom with the sound turned down
Every grin’s a paper lantern, pretty, thin, and close to fire
You ask, “Why aren’t you laughing?”—I say, “I am, I’m just tired”

[Pre-Chorus]
I’ve got a poker face for punchlines, a deadpan for the dance
If joy’s a loaded question, I’m refusing it the chance

[Chorus]
Flat mirth sobriety, hold my gravity
I’m not chasing loves that forget me by the dawn
Dead calm inside of me, sharp-edge clarity
I won’t fake a shimmer just to play along
If the room needs noise to feel alive
I’ll be the quiet that survives

[Verse 2]
All that glittered turned to bitter—on the floor and in my lungs
Every high came with a hang, every chorus cost a tongue
So I traded roam for focus, traded flares for steady light
Now my chuckles come in lowercase, but they fit my mouth just right

[Pre-Chorus]
I don’t miss the laughing gas, the helium in every breath
I can smile without the mask and call that mercy, not a death

[Chorus]
Flat mirth sobriety, hold my gravity
I’m not chasing loves that forget me by the dawn
Dead calm inside of me, sharp-edge clarity
I won’t fake a shimmer just to play along
If the room needs noise to feel alive
I’ll be the quiet that survives

[Bridge]
I used to fizz and overflow, a glass that never touched the lip
Now I savor every slow hello, every honest, unlit quip
Keep your sparkle on a leash—mine walks home with me at night
I’m a lighthouse in a storm of neon, blinking steady might

[Break]
No more canned applause, no more staged delight
If my laugh is small, it’s still mine tonight

[Final Chorus]
Flat mirth sobriety, hold my gravity
I don’t need the sugar rush to prove that I belong
Dead calm inside of me, sharp-edge clarity
Call it underwhelming—baby, that’s my favorite song
If the room needs noise to feel alive
I’ll be the quiet that survives

Flat Mirth Sobriety (Hold My Gravity)

Background: In observing some relationships, there is sometimes the dynamic where two people appear to be tailor-made for one another initially before evolving into a "too big to fail" conundrum where the symbiosis of joined existence is essential for survival---however good or bad that may be.   

[Verse 1]
I wear your shadow under my skin,
Feed on the silence we’re drowning in.
Every moment,  borrowed breath,
Life on loan, a pact with death.

We’re a system wired to break,
Living on the give-and-take.
Tear apart, and both collapse,
Hold too tight, and we won’t last.

[Pre-Chorus]
You’re the anchor, I’m the tide,
Dying slow but staying tied.
No escape, no perfect end,
Only ways to break, not mend.

[Chorus] 
We're a fatal fusion,
Living graves we’re choosing.
Cut the cord—it kills us fast,
Keep it tight—we’ll never last.

We're a fatal fusion,
Poisoned veins of ruin
Every path is compromise,
Every choice is how we die.

[Verse 2]
Your hunger lives inside my chest,
I can’t survive without the rest.
But every drop you take from me
Leaves us both in poverty.

[Pre-Chorus]
You’re the anchor, I’m the tide,
Dying slow but staying tied.
No escape, no perfect end,
Only ways to break, not mend.

[Chorus]
We're a fatal fusion,
Living graves we’re choosing.
Cut the cord—it kills us fast,
Keep it tight—we’ll never last.

We're a fatal fusion,
Poisoned veins of ruin
Every path is compromise,
Every choice is how we die.

[Bridge] 
Sever me—watch me fall.
Keep me near—drain us all.
Either way, we’re not alive…
Choose the blade, or bleed with time.

[Final Chorus] 
We're a fatal fusion,
Living graves we’re choosing.
Cut the cord—it kills us fast,
Keep it tight—we’ll never last.

We're a fatal fusion,
Poisoned veins of ruin
Every path is compromise,
Every choice is how we die.

Fatal Fusion

INTROSPECTATOR

Mercenary

Background: After seeing so many retrospective summer recaps at the conclusion of August/September, the recent chill in the air and appearance of autumn leaves put me in the headspace to write this track. Summer can often bring with it heightened possibilities followed by unwelcome conclusions.

[Verse 1]
We laughed like the world was ours to burn, Cheap wine stains on well-worn shirts.
Every night was a silver film, Projected dreams we never learned.

[Pre-Chorus]
But calendars don’t lie, And I can’t rewind July.

[Chorus]
The end of the summer feels like goodbye
To the reckless glow in our younger eyes. 
The 2am dancing, the endless tomorrows, Turn into silence, routines, and sorrow. I’ll carry the echoes like salt on my skin, The last light of summer will never come again.

[Verse 2]
 Idle gossip and gleaming eyes
We stitched our futures out of sky.
Group dinners lit by candle flame, We swore forever—none remained.

[Pre-Chorus] 
The laughter’s fading thin, It’s time we all begin.

[Chorus]
 The end of the summer feels like goodbye To the reckless glow in our younger eyes.
The 2am dancing, the endless tomorrows, Turn into silence, routines, and sorrow. I’ll carry the echoes like salt on my skin,
The last light of summer will never come again.

[Bridge]
 We were kings and queens in basements,
Daydream prophets with no patience.
Trading secrets in the dark,
Like tattoos on a borrowed heart.
But the music stops, the lights go black, No one tells you youth won’t come back.
I’d give the world just to pretend, But chapters close, and summers end.

[Final Chorus]
 The end of the summer feels like goodbye… To the endless versions of you and I.
I’ll whisper our names to the cool night air, Knowing the next time, it won’t be there.
The last light of summer… fading within,
A shadow of laughter, a ghost on my skin.

Mercenary

Stan Pratt