I’ve spent a lot of time traveling quiet roads and sitting in rooms where the air is heavy with things unsaid. If you look close enough into those shadows, you find a resilient, flickering beauty there as well. These songs were born in those spaces, where you sit with the darkness- fighting it, asking it questions, and eventually calling it a friend.

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I divided the album into two parts. One part is the songs performed live in a studio, and the other part is an instrumental take on two songs fused together. The instrumental side allowed me to express the way many of the songs came to be. I cant express how often a song would materialize in moments where words failed, and sitting in the dark I'd play my acoustic guitar to the darkness. 

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The title track, "Restless Soul,” reflects on the quiet, complex realities of depression and mental illness in life— sitting with the internal weight I have carried, and seen others carry when they are completely worn down; feeling out of options. It’s about a person we all know, or maybe a mirrored reflection we recognize when we are brave enough to look. I wrote acknowledging that pain and fear, looking for a way back home to myself. It's a reminder of how hard our mental health can be, and the difference it makes when we can access help when we need it most.

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The opening track is titled "Old Familiar Chair.” It came from a conversation I’ll never forget. My therapist looked me square and said, “I think you loved the idea of them.” They sent me into a panic by simply having me imagine the person I loved sitting in a random chair, faced away, then towards me. It really shook me up for a while. This song came from loving the idea of someone, and how hard it can be to recognize a placeholder for love; how, over time the “idea of" recalls all sort of expectations and hurt. It's acknowledging how hard it is to stand up and walk away from a seat that has grown comfortable, even when it’s breaking you.

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I imagined a high, dusty rimrock western town when writing "Walking with a Sentence."This features a western backdrop and tells a story of a desperado pushed to his limit. In my mind, he steps into the dim, amber light of an old western saloon and catches another fella being flirty and romantic with his wife. In a flash of raw, blinding jealousy, a conflict erupts, escalates, and he attacks that person. He flees town immediately, only to be brought back by the sheriff to hang in front of the town for what he'd done. As he faces the crowd, his final sight isn’t what he expected. It is a story of jealousy and anger, a story of how self-righteous judgment often cuts the person who judges the deepest, blinding them completely.

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With Restless Soul I put down an honest diary of the harder moments, the ones where I learned to sit in the darkness, and appreciate the pain as friend. I intentionally tried to retain the sounds of playing, in all their expressiveness from pick scratches to fingernails grazing the guitars surface. I hope the music helps us acknowledge the beautiful strength it takes to walk the heavy valleys in life. Celebrating the beautiful moments found while there.