Still Life of Citrus and Slime, was written and recorded during a time of personal change. How was your mindset during the writing and recording of Dichotomy Desaturated?

I think the older I get the more I realise that life is exactly that ['personal change'] all the time. It would be boring if it wasn’t. The wheels are always turning, life is unpredictable, and the world is in a precarious position. The real recurring theme for me with this record is growth; growth in the face of doubt and the shit-show that is planet earth.

Also, the world of music is rapidly changing. There are a thousand new bands created every day. It is interesting to think about how to keep developing and creating things that feel exciting and different. At the end of the day, it should all be organic, because that is what creating is. You should be creating something that is natural to you, but at the same time you have to think about what the world needs or doesn’t need. Does it need more of this or that? Is there already too much of this or that? Questions like that are what drive me to try to find my voice, literally and figuratively. It’s fun, and also important to remember to use your resources for the greater good, however that may be possible.

Who, and what, were your primary influences while working on this particular set of songs?

My influences are all over the place. I have been trying to dig in to the jazz world more: Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Art Blakey. I’ve been listening to a lot of Parliament and Funkadelic, and over the last couple of years I have been getting down with the Grateful Dead. The classics, obviously, are still in rotation - Black Sabbath, The Groundhogs, Blue Cheer - and I was jamming a lot of [The Stooges'] Fun House at the tail end of finishing this record. Velvet Underground, JJ Cale, Fred Neil, Moby Grape. Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, the Germs, Rudimentary Peni.

Some newer bands that inspire me are Total Control, Human Eye/Timmy’s Organism, CCR Headcleaner. I love a lot of different music, and how and where those influences slip in varies.

Your first album was recorded entirely by yourself. Was this also the case with Dichotomy Desaturated?

I recorded the record with Ty and [producer and engineer] Eric Bauer at Bauer Mansion, in San Francisco. Ty and Eric engineered the record, and we mixed it together. I play all the instruments, except Ty plays drums on one of the songs.

What's the significance of the album's title?

'Dichotomy' comes from split ideas; the fragmentation of logic. Everything has a double meaning, and everything can be broken down and viewed [as a] positive or a negative. As humans, we try to categorize and name things, but these are just words that we have created to represent - and possibly distance ourselves from - a more natural, intangible truth.

'Desaturation' represents a similar idea that when you want to break things down to 'black and white' there is everything in between, but the effort to break it down is what makes people feel comfortable with their reasoning. These are just loose ideas that I think about sometimes, and the songs themselves have a similar aesthetic.

What are your favourite tracks on the album and why?

All of the songs have different parts or moments that I am attached to for different reasons. "Saline/The Man/Kind to You" is a personal favourite, because it felt ambitious to blend those three ideas together. It also spans the different vibes of the record pretty well. "Voyeurs" was also a song that, for me, felt ambitious. I like "Pinch the Dream" because it hits a certain groove that can be intimidating to me, sometimes. All of the songs represent different aspects of music and songwriting that I am trying to immerse myself in and have fun trying to figure out in an organic way.

Who created Dichotomy Desaturated's artwork and what does it mean to you personally?

[Artist and photographer] Denee Petracek took the photos, and I just traced the photo and then did some shading on it. To me, it just represents the personal dichotomy. Also, the hand-drawn side of me represents the record itself, and that [the album] is something that I created. Basically, it represents the vulnerability [of] wanting to just put [the album] out there and own up to whatever imperfections there may be.

Who performs in the CFM live band, and how did you assemble the group?

The band is Thomas Alvarez on drums, Tyler Frome on bass, and Michael Anderson on guitar. Thomas plays in a band called Audacity, and has played in countless other bands, but I have known Thomas and Audacity since we were in high school.

Michael and I have known each other since high school, as well. We played in a band called Epsilons together that started when I was sixteen. We also had a hardcore band called Culture Kids together, and we've been playing music together for over a decade.

I met Tyler a long time ago. A band I was in called Perverts played with his band Moongerms. This was right when I moved to San Francisco in 2008, and he was living in Santa Cruz. We had mutual friends, and when I moved to LA we started hanging more. I feel lucky to be surrounded by old friends that are on the same page.

How does it feel bringing your songs to life during the live CFM shows?

It’s really fun. All of us are down to figure out where the songs can go, and we all push each other to learn new things and get comfortable with what we are doing. It’s nice to have a platform for us to work off of and try to expand as a group of musicians playing live together.