Apples & Bears (2020) is a 5-song EP of lullabies made for my niece, Morgan. Living on opposite coasts, I wanted a way for Morgan to know my voice so that on our first visit and beyond, there would be a bond of familiarity between us already. In these songs, I played with harmonies and delicate repetition, two things that help lull me into a sense of contentedness and rest.

The title comes from the painting upon which the prayer from track 5 was written: a brown teddy bear sat next to a basket full of red apples. At the end of the prayer, my sisters and I would say, “Amen. Apples and bears, Amen. Two Amens.” Kids are funny like that. This EP was written and produced in my bedroom during the month of March 2020. Morgan Mary was born on the 1st of April 2020.

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Tracklist:

01 Apples   a meandering instrumental to shift out of the pace of the day and into a restful mode of being

02 Time for Bed   a playful lullaby about bedtime and dreaming

03 Twinkle, Twinkle   a rendition of the classic poem originally written by Jane Taylor

04 Bears   a soft loop of harmonies to accompany you as those coherent thoughts start to warp into dream thoughts

05 Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep   a verse from the prayer my sisters and I grew up reciting every night before bed

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Album art hand painted by Neil Patel (contact: neilpatelgv@gmail.com)