The theme of the second act of GUILLOTINE is DECONSTRUCTION. These next 4 songs begin with desperation, & buying into the bootlicking, name-dropping thing—selling out—then hitting rock bottom when it doesn't work & coming to a profound realization. The reason everyone’s so broken is not because the people around me are the problem, or because the system is broken. The system works exactly the way it’s supposed to, but the world we live in is systematically built on subjugation. My youthful disillusionment with LA was never actually about LA. It was about capitalism & imperialism & devaluing people to get by. There’s an eye-opening there. And while it's mildly empowering to know that even though the world is terrible, you're awake enough to see the puppet strings on everyone, the problem is sometimes that very empowerment acts as a soporific & no one who's awake ends up taking real action with any sense of urgency. Which leaves room for the monsters at the top to make their move instead...

GUILLOTINE’s narrative is divided roughly into 4 acts of 4 songs, so that is how i plan to release it. the first act's theme is DISUNITY. these 4 songs are about some of my earlier years in los angeles with a pipedream of being a rockstar, but being hit over the head with apathy and disinterest. i'd go to shows and people weren't there to have fun--they were there to be seen having fun. everyone seemed consumed by trying to hustle hustle hustle & gain social capital & be in the cool kids club, even if the gatekeepers were garbage human beings. it felt like no one was listening to the part of themselves that made them feel alive--like everyone was betraying themselves. and, at the time, my ego was warping how i understood all that and i took it extremely personally. i was angry at the city around me and angry at myself for not being able to do anything to change it. little did i know how much i still had to learn.