September Syndrome was the first song I wrote for this album, back in Spring 2019. Much like everything documented here, it took a while to come together, with several drifting parts and ideas eventually coalescing into a whole that I could be proud of. I came up with the guitar riff first on a bus in south Florida, wrote the first half of the song that night, and then spent the next two months trying to figure out the outro while simultaneously teaching myself Logic and the basics of recording. By June I had a song, and with it the beginnings of a project that would hang over my existence for the next two years.
That Summer we rehearsed and recorded Sunburst Chaser. In the Fall I left for university and promptly joined four more bands. In March, the pandemic hit, and I went home, wrote a lot, and quickly became obsessed with the idea of an acoustic album of the times, which wound up becoming Aiaia. And so on and so forth… This time was defined by plans and the obstacles to their completion that inevitably appeared, whether from internal or external sources. Yet through it all I worked on the album, like someone relearning how to walk, with only enough energy to progress a few steps at a time.
I feel I’m overdramatizing this. This concept that increasingly became an obligation—lagging behind the progression of my writing abilities and ambitions, but too far along to give up on. But that’s not the point, is it? And people need to be thanked.
I’d like to thank Joseph, for always being down to jam and flesh out my fragments into complete pieces of music. It’s unfortunate that circumstances dictated that he could only appear on a small portion of the finished project, but his influence is scrawled all over it.
I’d like to thank Piotr, Brad, and Anthony for teaching me most of what I know about music and guitar, and Nina, Clay, and John for molding the writer who appears here.
I’d like to thank Kat for being my best friend, greatest collaborator, and constant artistic foil, Emma for being my most reluctant supporter, Alec for leaving me alone while I worked on this last year, Harley for always being an excellent conversationalist, my erstwhile biggest fan, however briefly, and all of my friends and family for being encouraging and supportive along the way.
I’d also like to thank anyone who actually read this whole thing. What are you doing? Go listen to some Wadada, man.
Please enjoy. Or not. You get to make that call.

-Eli Thayer, 2021