Music

When I am not obsessively thinking about Aristotle’s conception of thumos, I like to write and record music. I am a trained classical guitarist with a penchant for playing Latin guitar, especially bossa nova, flamenco, and tango. Before I began pursuing my PhD in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, I performed professionally as a musician in Hilo, Hawai’i. Feel free to listen to and learn about my musical projects below.

Projects

  1. Little Witch EP - Released June 2023

The Little Witch EP is a mini-concept album I released independently in 2023, about a little witch named Miriam who goes on the hero’s journey. This project was inspired and influenced by many things: the tradition of Homeric bards, Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, dear friends loved and lost to time, legendary gypsy swing guitarist Django Reinhardt, a road sign in North Carolina, Roman poet Catullus’ masterpiece Carmina 64, Led Zeppelin’s live triple album How the West Was Won, Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, and most of all the deeply strange interests and joys of every little girl between the ages of eight and eleven.

Special thanks to: my producer Mike Hitt at MCM Studios in Pittsburgh, Sloane Wesloh for playing the viola so beautifully on “Valley of the Moon”, Madeline McSherry for painting the cover art, Clara Beyer for helping me work through writer’s block too many times to count, and Stephen Mackareth for his generous financial support.

2. Madness EP - Recording In Progress

The Madness EP is a collection of four pop-punk songs I wrote while sequestered in my apartment during the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020: “The Ballad of Saint Jackson”, “Premise of the Possible”, “On the Brink”, and “Spiral”. I have a real soft spot for “Premise of the Possible”, which on the surface is a song about social anxiety but in my heart of hearts is a song about Aristotelian practical syllogisms. To be released sometime in 2025 or 2026.

    3. Shadowboxing - Writing In Progress

Shadowboxing is a full-length album I have been writing since early 2020. I’m still not sure if this album is about fighting with yourself or fighting the ghosts of your past, mostly because I’m not sure those are two different things. While the subject matter varies greatly from song to song, a common thread is the influence of bossa nova, both in rhythm and in my near obsessive employment of major 6 and 7 chords. I like to think of this genre, whatever it is, as bossa-adjacent.