coastal alt/indie rock

​​Field Notes​​

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“Almost Through” started with a bass. I have a Taylor acoustic mini bass, and every now and then I like to write songs from bass lines instead of guitar.

I was down in Monterey, playing around with the bass when I came up with the main riff — this C, G minor, B-flat, F movement with a dyad on bass. I recorded it on my phone, and when I played it back, I heard another bass part underneath it: this repeating da-da-da-da counter-riff. That became the first time in my life I had ever recorded a song with two basses playing simultaneously.

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I'm not sure how many rock songs have used two basses countering each other, but hat double-bass groove became the identity of the song. It felt sexy, sinewy, and a little winding, so I wanted the lyrics to follow that same energy. The story became about two people who meet in the city, party together, play together, and slowly realize the relationship was never built to last.​

It isn’t a one-night stand, but it also isn’t deep love. It’s something superficial that manages to sustain itself for a while — maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe even a year — until both people can feel it running out.

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The chorus line, “I think we’re almost through,” gave the whole thing its shape. From there, I liked finding clever, blunt ways to describe why the relationship was ending:

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• they don’t talk much, they use sex as a crutch,

• they have no ambitions, they’ve run out of positions,

• they don’t feel devotion, they’re just objects in motion.

By the end, the song turns the breakup into a party: invite your friends, raise a toast, because love is a ghost.

For me, “Almost Through” was one of those songs where I was writing in a familiar rock and roll tradition — the kind of thing the Who, the Stones, or the Kinks might have done in the late ’60s or early ’70s — but trying to add my own cleverness and alt-rock edge to it. It’s a groove-driven, slightly wicked song, and I really enjoy it.​​