During the pandemic, I started messing around with samples, trying to echo some of the music that soundtracked my teenage years (and my favorite skate videos) in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. At first I thought it would just be a fun way to pass the time, to distract myself from the world, to get a little better at music composition and production, but it ended up somehow coming together as more than an entertaining distraction from the virus and social unrest that punctuated 2020. And then after I ordered a Leeds United jersey to celebrate their return to the English Premier League and received my shipping confirmation — a ‘despatch’ from Elland Road — the project suddenly had a name.
I released the first two singles — cd/cuz and windjammer/slimboy fats dominoes — at the beginning of 2021, once I’d somewhat figured out what I was doing. Then, sadly, life got in the way — both in good (those few moments after vaccinations rolled out in the spring of 2021) and bad (delta variant, wildfires, omicron, burnout, depression) ways. But I kept working on Despatches. And I’m ready to start sharing those compositions again, especially as they seem to have got a bit better (and weirder) in equal measure during the interim.
The sharp teeth mixtape was released on 11 April 2022.
On 31 December 2022, moments before the new year, I put out at the point of disappearing, my first attempt at a full-length release.
As of mid-2024, I am working on either a series of EPs or another LP… or some combination of both. I guess we’ll see. Need to get something new out soon. It’s been too long.
You can find Despatches on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and elsewhere.