It Depends - pt. 1

The last couple CDs I've made have been different from so many of the ones I've done in the past -- I've a couple of reasons for that. First, I've been trying to develop a distinct style -- something that helps to unify the way my music sounds and feels -- and at the same time trying to learn where to deviate from that style.

A few years ago I made a CD that was basically all flamenco house. At the time I wasn't able to find too many tracks that really had that feel and still had more of a dance energy. The result of that for me has been my attempt to incorporate that sound, and that spirit, into what I'm playing -- a lot of times that means I'll try to find tracks with a distinct acoustic guitar sound or more complex rhythms, sometimes it's just a certain latin flair. In a lot of ways that's just a reflection of me -- trying to acknowledge that influence in my life without necessarily being overwhelmed by it.

Second, I've really tried to make the past couple of CDs more personal, in that I've tried to make these CDs about me and my life, in that in a certain way they represent where I perceive myself to be and where I want to go. Each of the CDs represents a particular emotional and energetic shift -- they're meant to be listened from beginning to end.

With It Depends, I'm starting out with a question about myself and my life -- for a while I've felt like my life has been in some sort of stasis that I haven't quite figured out how to resolve. I intended this CD to be the answer to the question I've been asking -- "When do things finally start to change?" The answer, as I'm finding out in my own life, is, "It depends."

To go along with that general theme, I went with cover art -- basically trying to get across the point that at any given step along the way you can really go in several different directions, it's just a matter of deciding which way you decide to go.