TO BREATHE YOUR AIR IS VIOLENCE
released MARCH 4, 2026
ALBUM 58, RELEASE 158
Oh hey, I made a new album. How charming. This was an attempt to make something as far removed from "power pop" as I could. I failed, but not as much as I could have. A lot of this album's sound can be attributed to the Catalinbread CSIDman, a digital delay pedal that imitates the sound of a skipping portable CD player. A lot of the long intros on here can be blamed on this pedal. Also, I will not be discussing the lyrics of this album. I think you can read them and get a pretty good idea of what I'm on about there and then.
"The Trees Still Up" was the only song to earn a specific spot in the tracklist before the album was done. I think the album wasn't even half-done when I decided it had to be the opener. It sets up "Vacant" pretty well too. That song came to be this way when some synth overdubs turned out worse than I wanted, but sounded better on their own. I thought the song could have been longer anyway, so it worked out. "Cool Pond, Flames Boy" is the most conventionally HW song here, at least to me. "Please Don't Speak This Word" has 3 different parts, and only one of them can really be called song-like. I like the idea of a short song having such long intros and outros. "Weather Channel: Deluxe Edition" was, for a while, 1 of only 2 songs finished for the album, and the other song got cut. It sort of loomed over me while I made the rest of it. It's also one of the strangest. "To Breathe Your Air Is Violence" is one of a whole bunch of songs that use the Squier Bass VI as its main instrument. To make it even heavier, I slowed the recording down before doing the vocals. Consider that the end of Side A. "Dayton Sunburn Radio Report" is a clip show of some unreleased HW songs from the original followup to Ours Is A Blank Map, which was going to be called Dayton Sunburn. I ended up using the name and artwork for a little EP instead. The music was all part of the original batch of OIABM demos, but held off in favor of the songs that eventually did make that album. Over the course of September 2025, I realized the tunes didn't hold up very well, so even after recording vocals for quite a few songs, I canned the whole thing and started from scratch. The vocals are not great, and I don't have the lyrics anywhere, so those songs will probably remain unreleased for now. It sets up "What A Worthwhile Exchange" really well. I believe this to be THE hit of the album. Because I don't think it's obvious from the lyrics, I'll tell you that it's about getting tinnitus as a musician. "The Angel Came Too Late" resorts to spoken word because I was deep in a 3-day bum rush to finish the album. The majority of the album was finished on February 22 and 23, with 2 others finished on the 24th to complete the album. I think it's okay this time around, because the riffs are so strong AND there's no way I would be able to replicate it live anyway. There actually are plans for a release show, but only 6 of these songs are making it into the setlist. One of those is "Ghost Folders", which I sort of feel is the last hit on the album. It makes good use of my new chord organ, which is like my old chord organ but with more chord buttons, more keys, and legs. "Waste Distribution" sits in an interesting spot. It was one of the first instrumentals I recorded for the album, but it kicked around as long as it did because I couldn't figure out how to approach it as a singer. This happens a lot with HW songs. It's only the closing track because of the trick with the auto-tuned backing vocals at the end. This one also has a concrete meaning, but I probably shouldn't talk about it here. You can ask me if you see me. I'll tell you then. I do nonetheless like it as a closer.
Listening to the album again now, I feel like it's a beautiful sort of failure. It's not the hideous noise album I heard in my head, but it's definitely not what The Other Need or even In This House We Are Cold were. I'm working on 2 new albums right now, but oddly enough I'm putting most of my creative energy into making a board game. I don't even play a lot of board games (although I sure would like to) so why I'm doing this is a mystery even to me. It does feel nice to not worry about music for a bit though.