Today I released a new single called "If You Want."

You can listen and download it...

RIGHT HERE.
 

When I was growing up, the film Harold & Maude was a big deal in my household. My mother introduced it to my sister and me just as we were emerging into teendom. She had been obsessed with it when she was 18, and saw it something like 15 times in the theater.

It was probably the first point in our lives where something really bridged the generational gap between us, loving this strange little movie and its winning combination of dark humor, heartwarming/heartbreaking message about life, and beautiful music by Cat Stevens. It also was probably the first time I really understood that my parents were once as young as myself, and that there was no defined line between being a kid and being an adult... just a long, slow transition across the spectrum of age. It's not as if the 18-year-old girl that was compelled to watch this film over and over suddenly disappeared one day, being replaced by an unrelated adult pod-person version; the same girl was actually sitting there in the room with us. She was just at a later point on the spectrum, a point I'd slowly and smoothly transition to as well. 

Anyway, Harold & Maude will always have a special place in my heart because of all that. The music in particular is always with me. Spontaneously singing "Trouble" has helped me through more than one tough time. If you haven't heard "Trouble" and "If You Want to Sing Out," go search them on YouTube right away, please! 

I didn't sit down to write an homage to "If You Want to Sing Out."  Musically, my song has very little to do with it... but as soon as I sang the first line, "If you want to walk away, then you can," I knew where the sentiment was being borrowed from. Normally I wouldn't run with such a direct lyric like that, but it just felt right. Of course, I put my own spin on the concept and left the door cracked open for some self-deprecating pessimism to sneak in... you know me...

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[Loners]

You may have noticed it's apparently part of an album called [Loners]... but it's not actually an album at all.  It's sort of a persistent repository for new tracks that don't have homes yet.  I'll be adding songs to it as I finish them, and occasionally removing some if they become part of an official album or EP.  The songs in [Loners] can only be downloaded from my Bandcamp page... not iTunes, Spotify, or anything like that.  It may seem confusing, but it's all in the name of removing barriers to putting music out faster, and avoiding song droughts!