Over the past week or so, I’ve been repackaging and releasing some vintage material on BandCamp. Here’s a rundown:
1. Catch-22 (single, 2008)
I recorded this under the Alexandra Rising moniker in mid-2008. It was shortly before I moved to Charlottesville and put much-needed perspective-enhancing distance between myself and my hometown. Of course it was also shortly before the election of 2008, and while I cannot call the division I was witnessing in the nation at that time “quaint,” exactly, I CAN safely say that 26-year-old me hadn’t seen ANYTHING yet. Of course there is some personal drama involved as well, as I am realizing that differences of opinion that were cute and juicy and poetic in high school are now no laughing matter, and coming to terms with how some ventures are foundationally unsound and therefore doomed to fail.
I can also say this song is pretty much the bridge between the theatrical, self-mythologizing output of Alexandra Rising and the more existentially fraught, emotionally honest stuff I put out as Sold Kingdom.
2. What Comfort (previously unreleased, 2009)
A sad little waltz from the more sentimental end of my spectrum. It never made it out of xxHOMEDEMOxx form, but then again I didn’t really eff up anywhere and I can’t really see myself revisiting it (it was written back in 2009 during what wasn’t exactly my finest hour as a smart-decision-making human). So decided to release it like this.
Arguably I was still Alexandra Rising when I recorded this, but kind of not really… the project was as good as defunct by that time. Probably more accurate if I just used my real name. But for simplicity’s sake Imma claim it as Sold Kingdom. After all, it IS about losing (people as well as self-control).
3. A Shrewdly Measured Thirst (Selected Juvenilia 1998-2002)
Blame it on autumn nostalgia, having another birthday, or thinking to myself “I wonder how much better old degraded cassette crap can sound when I run it through current software” – but in any event here’s a curated selection of ancient tunes from my horny, conflicted teenage mind!
I wrote and recorded all of these songs between the ages of 16 and 19. Even when the latter ones came out in 2002, I am fairly certain I hadn’t yet reached my 20th birthday.
It’s still staggering to me how epic a three-year period can feel at that age – hell, even a three-week span of time (I’m looking at you, late Sept. thru mid-Oct. 1998) can send shockwaves through your personal sitch for years to come.
Of course my almost 40-y/o butt can see the youthful blind spots in this material, and the sound quality is atrocious (though over the past couple days eMastered in combo with Audacity improved it more than I had thought possible). But I am still proud of this wildly creative, frequently clever, tortuously ambivalent little weirdo, and I’m obviously still her, on an elemental level.
Fair warning, there might be a bit more reminiscing before I get off this kick…
The Sold Kingdom 
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