When I was a junior in college (in the waybacks of 2002/2003), one of my roommates, Josh, had a digital 4-track recorder and he agreed to set it up in the living room of our apartment on Glenn Street in Tucson, Arizona, one night when I knew I was going to be the only one home for the next few hours. I proceeded to record all of the songs I'd written thus far and slapped 'em together for my first album, PET SYMMETRY. (originally imagined as a track-by-track response to the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS, only with much darker lyrics and themes, though that concept quickly evaporated upon execution).

It was super barebones, just a rather mediocre singer and guitar player, playing the weird folk pop songs he'd written in High School and the first two years of college. They spanned my first really heavy breakup and my first drop-everything-and-propose adult relationship (the breakup for THAT relationship is covered in the next album, EVERYBODY HERE SAYS HI, by the way). Really groundbreaking stuff.

Then, in 2008 or so, some fool taught me some GarageBand basics and I used my girlfriend at the time's Macbook to rerecord most of the songs on PET SYMMETRY, this time with more accompaniment and arrangement. That's mostly what you're hearing with these tracks. Some of it works. Some of it very much does not. But I *like* a lot of the stuff that doesn't work, you know? It's messy and chaotic and that's super fun to me.

"And It's Time" was one of the first songs I ever wrote, at around 17 or so. The lyrics get a bit too "edgy" for my tastes now, but I love the chaos of guitars and effects. This was me trying to write a Rolling Stones song or something like George Harrison's "Don't Bother Me" (despite the Zeppelin quote at the beginning).

"Baby" is a simple little song with a chord change I got a kick out of. I was probably 18 or 19 when I wrote this one. I've since (at around 38 years of age) finally figured out a vocal bridge, but that's a bit too late to make it onto this recording, isn't it? I also love the instrumental beak on this. I've never felt confident in my soloing skills (see the previous track for what my attempts at lead guitar sound like), but I've always been a good whistler, so that's what I'm actually doing there. It was then heavily processed and reverse-gated to make it sound theramin-like.

"Katie" is a favorite. Just a good little pop song and I like the arrangement. Nuff said.

"I Know I'm Gonna Love You" is an older song (I was probably 19) about a friend of a friend who I crushed for hard. I really like the texture of all the guitars and how each one probably isn't always playing the right notes but taken together it's this neat soundbed that's vaguely uke/banjo-ish (it's really like four or five multitracked and capoed Martin Backpacker guitars).

"The Portico Song" is one of the newer (ie, I was like 21) songs. Another chaotic arrangement but one I enjoy. I am not a piano player. But I don't let that stop me.

"Cliche" was the closest thing to a 'hit' I ever had. This was the song that always got the most requests. Written about the same girl as "Portico" (and god knows how many other songs). There's actually a newer arrangement of this, complete with counter-melody and lyrics, but I figured I'd include this original naked version for posterity.

"Freddy Dingo" is hahahahaha pure chaos. What the fuck was I thinking? I don't know. But fuck it. There's actually a good song here and one of these days I'll give it the proper recording it deserves. In the meantime, there's just something I love about how messy this gets. Like baby's first Beefheart. And maybe some other sicko like me will enjoy this, who knows?

"Sweet Desdemona" is another nice folk-track. I didn't think I had a usable recording of this one from the 2008 "sessions" but then I found this version hiding in my archives. It was basically a guide track but I like its simplicity. And I also love that random harmonica that comes out of nowhere and then is never heard from again.

"Xero the Microscopic Hero" was actually the first song I ever wrote, probably around 15. There were no lyrics, though; it was just a chord sequence I wrote once I finally learned how to play a 9th chord. Then, sophomore year of college, me, Josh, my best friend Matt, and my other best friend Sarah, all went on a road trip to San Diego. I was in a really weird place, emotionally - my HS girlfriend and I had finally broken up and I was insanely smitten with the "Portico" girl (but she hadn't yet agreed to go out with me), so I was feeling very existential. We parked in an underground garage and there on a column right by the car was a huge drawing of an amoeba-like ghost-thing, under which was scrawled "Xero the Microscopic Hero Learn to Love that You Are Nothing." Me, Josh, and Matt decided that needed to be immortalized further. I used the melody and chords I wrote, added some lyrics (to which Josh and Matt both contributed) and then Josh and I had a little impromptu recording session. Big ups to Josh, by the way. He's an *actual* musician, and I think his arrangement is great. I mean, he woulda been 21 or 22 at this time? Impressive stuff. (Also fun fact, the Christine referenced in these lyrics went on to become a very successful TV actor.)

"Popstar" is the one song I didn't rerecord in 2008. I don't know why. So this track is the one original 2002 track included in this batch. It's very indicative of how they all sounded: me, a guitar, and a whole lotta teen angst. (Also a vaguely British accent, for which I blame my Beatles obsession and the fact that I was currently deeply immersed in a theatre training program that drilled Mid-Atlantic speech into our wet little brains).