On May 24th, I uploaded some music to be published on June 5th (today), on your friendly neighborhood music streaming/download services. I set up a Bandcamp release draft for the same date.

This music was produced in a pretty frivolous spirit. You can probably tell from the album art and song/album title(s) that it was all intended to have a somewhat light tone as an art object.

On May 25th, George Floyd was murdered by police and the world has changed a lot since. If nothing else, many of us have been reminded of entrenched and intertwined systems of violence that we regularly forget about due to various axes of privilege. Make no mistake: although the murder of George Floyd was particularly monstrous (and catalytic in raising awareness), it is not an isolated incident that has people in the street demanding justice.

Due to how our national and global discourse has changed so quickly, the levity that built this project feels like it’s from impossibly long ago, and I feel very awkward about putting this music out. Even the simple fact of making all-instrumental music now feels like an unacceptable form of silence when art can and arguably must say much more.

But I have absolutely no intuition for when would be a better time to share these sounds, so I’m just mostly continuing with the release plans I had on May 24th.

That said, I want to say how proud I am of my recently adopted hometown of Philadelphia for being one of the most vocal and tenacious cities in gathering to protest the racist systems of abuse, exploitation, and neglect that oppress people of color every day.

To support the courage and vision of my new neighbors, any money that comes my way via Bandcamp during the month of June will go to Black Lives Matter Philadelphia.

The two best days for you to contribute to this are today (when Bandcamp is waiving fees) and Juneteenth (June 19th, when Bandcamp is starting an annual tradition of donating their share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund).

I hope this music can tickle your brain and lift your spirits for a few minutes.

All best,
Devin