Key
2023 ALBUM
Candor is the first full album project under the Key moniker. Unlike the previous releases I have done under other aliases, every track has vocals and the intent was always to write an album of proper songs.
The project began in 2014 under the title The Worry Box and several songs were started but ultimately left unfinished. At the time, I was dealing with the tragic loss of my partner and had taken some time off to cope and all I was doing was creating music and poetry as a way of processing. A series of life changes as a result of moving on (as well as an eventual creative block) put this album on hold for the time being.
As life is sometimes, hardships come and go, and nine years later in 2023 I found myself again in the midst of crises. A failed marriage and the loss of my job were among these events. So with some time on my hands, I once again returned to music as a source of comfort.
Candor was an attempt to collect any song I had written that was geared toward a standard song structure and complete them. Some compositions I had previously done were written this way, but as I had (perhaps incorrectly) assumed I was no good at writing lyrics, many were unfinished. Songs which were always intended to be lyrical were Not Alone, If and Every Second Counts. The others were reconstructed to contain lyrics.
What I discovered from the writing process was profound in that I was able to get in touch with a lot of feelings and thoughts I thought were buried but were in fact still bubbling under the surface. Thus, while the desire to compile this album was borne of my most recent situation, the resulting songs covered periods of my life over the past decade and beyond. So Candor is in fact a narrative of loss, grief, anger and hopelessness — but as the order of the songs demonstrates, shows how it can progress to independence, determination, trust, and even optimism.