New Year Resolution 2026
beginnings: my new album, and a few other thoughs
My fiancée asked me about my New Year resolution for 2026. I replied “perfect authentic.” When she looked at me confused I continued “last year was plagal. The year before that was deceptive.” She’s not a musician, so that joke was purely for my own amusement. Which is why I felt a bit self-involved when I then explained cadences to her in my best recap of fall semester music theory from my first year of undergrad. I’m unspeakably grateful that she loves me.
In all seriousness, I have a few goals and themes for the coming year. Most importantly, she and I are getting married in the spring. I’ve also applied for a Fulbright Fellowship and am considering relocating to Copenhagen in August (the jury is still out on that one). Finally, I’m going to start releasing my new record in February. My last release under my own name was in 2018, so this feels more like a reinvention than a direct continuation of that project. 2026 is about reinvention, newness, and finally arriving at the beginning.
Most of my online presence over the last couple years has been a calling card for sideman, event band, and production work I do, with photo essay posts sprinkled in. This year I want to re-orient towards myself as an artist. I’ll spend the coming year releasing my new record as a series of 7 singles spread out across 12 months. I also just provided background vocals to my dear friend Ali Aslam’s record, that i tracked guitars for at the beginning of the summer. There are a couple other records floating in the ether that I’ve contributed to that I hope come out this year as well. So, sharing myself as a band leader and sideman in artist projects I care about is the name of the game.
It’s artistically rejuvenating to also have some unprofessionalized creative endeavors that are purely for joy, exploration, and have shorter timelines between the genesis of an idea and the end result. In July I took up film photography and fell deeply, head-over-heels in love with it. I’ve added a smattering of my photos here, and will continue to on here and my insta.
I plan on writing more, and hosting some guest posts by other writers here, as part of my album release. Thanks for following along. I’m excited to embrace 2026, the Year of the Red Fire Horse, with all of its motivation, passion, ambition, bold decisions, change, and new forms of independence.
🙌🏆