First Time / Alone [7In]

First Time / Alone, Greg Mendez?s new EP and first release with Dead Oceans, came together in late summer and early fall of 2023; the songs here appear in the order in which they were written, recorded straight to four-track in the small spare room of his West Philadelphia apartment. It?s a four song arc, a spectral passageway, one brief and fluid body of work that hangs together from the mournful opening of 'Mountain Dew Hell' to the pitched-up vocals on 'Pain Meds,' a tiny song floundering in the enormity of grief. The experience of listening through is like waking up from a half-remembered dream, a shadow in the corner of the room, a strange solitude, a temporal New York autumn with gray skies and naked trees. But while the release is sparse and spontaneous, it?s tactile and consuming, a glimpse into the beautiful, lonely worlds that live in the core of a Greg Mendez song.First Time / Alone is the inverse of his 2023 self-titled album, a meticulous and labored-over collection of songs that went on to become a surprise slowburn success. Mendez has released music in various capacities across 15 years living in Philadelphia and New York, but the self-titled was what propelled him to a wider attention, a critical breakthrough on best-of lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Paste, and more. That forward momentum came to a quick halt following an intensive surgery on his right wrist in the summer of 2023 ? a four-month purgatory of bad TV, canceled touring, and physical therap

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Details

Catalogue Number: DOC372LP
Format: Vinyl 7"
Artist: Greg Mendez
Release Date: 06 December 2024
Genre: Alternative
Label: DEAD OCEANS
Distributor: Rocket Group