Miles & Miles

Track 1: Lost Soul

• First recording date: August 13, 2011

“Lost Soul” comes from a younger version of myself, the self-conscious college student who yearns to identify as an “artist.” My creativity was always held at bay by the ongoing concerns of my personal image; but at rare times, when expressing my innermost worries, I found a freedom I hadn’t experienced before. After recording this around nine years ago, I felt I had made some real progress in my musical ability. And on top of that, I remember my mom listening to it and saying, “this sounds radio ready.” During that time, I also believed it was “ready” and had even put it on my makeshift album (complete with an album cover, see below, that I never released). I was so proud of finally expressing deep, personal concerns through the facade melancholy music.

Original album cover of “I Need No Sympathy” back in 2011

Track 2: Mr. Day

• First recording date: November 28, 2010

After having only written singer/songwriter material for maybe a year, “Mr. Day” struck me as a simplistic, yet charming song back when I wrote it in 2010. I was shocked that people liked it so much and that my friend knew the trumpet solo I had written when we listened to it on the beach in San Clemente. In my efforts to write about other topics besides love and relationship, I wrote about day to day frustrations in my lifestyle such as getting out of my bed or thinking too much about little things.

So the light-heartedness of “Mr. Day” comes from these daily frustrations over small problems. The humor shines through the guitar part at the beginning and continues with this simple four-chord progression. And the lack of drums in this track maintains the D.I.Y. style of music creation I had at my disposal as a new college student. With this newly mastered track, I attempted to maintain the mellow atmosphere of the original recording.

Track 3: Withdrawals

• First recording date: February 4, 2019

Nothing is more frustrating than money problems and after graduating with a few degrees, I found myself in the same position as a lot of people in the nation: hating my financial debt. Out of frustration, I recently wrote this song to express my inability to catch up with the bills, the payments, the student debt, etc. What else am I to do when I’m already doing everything I can?

This humorous track highlight a bossa nova influenced rhythm and Cuban-infused instrumentation to make this serious issue of debt a little more light-hearted. Perhaps as a coping mechanism other millennials can relate to?

Track 4: Colorblind

• First recording date: April 23, 2011

Growing up in a household with philosophical conversations and goal-oriented parents, my work ethic was well-established along with an unquenchable need to look deeper. My analytical mind began to alienate me from the world, or at least that’s what I felt when I wrote “Colorblind.” The questions I began asking myself during the first few years of my college career began to frustrate me because there was either no answer or more than one answer. And with overthinking being the symptom of these philosophical questions, I found myself functioning more inside my head than outside of it. I felt as though I saw things differently than others and this realization led me down a path of self-alienation. (Original album cover below).

Classical and jazz musicians spend so much of their younger years in practice rooms learning to perfect themselves through the conduit of music. Only in the past few years, though, have I realized the need for social skills when trying to find a balanced lifestyle! So many young musicians must be in the same boat – let’s all start socializing, hmm?

Original album cover of “Colorblind” back in 2011

Track 5: Clocks Ticking 

• First recording date: March 18, 2012

Music had always been my strong suit, while lyrics (and language in general) had always been my greatest weakness (along with overthinking). Every time I would attempt to write “artistic” text, I’d found myself almost shutting down, collapsing in on my own ideas of what “lyrics” should sound like. While the music might perfectly express my emotions (of my thoughts surrounding me and pushing me toward, perhaps, insanity!), the text needed help. Luckily, my gifted dad kindly helped edit and rewrite the lyrics for me so my message, hopefully, comes across more clearly.

“Colorblind” and “Clocks Ticking” have a very similar theme – funny they were both written during my last year at a community college, just before transferring to a university.

Track 6: At Home

• First recording date: July 21, 2011

Jack Johnson was a huge influence on me. I remember listening to his music, and only his music, in my 1989 Lincoln Town Car for nearly a year and learning how to sing harmonies over his simple, yet catchy melodies. Half of “At Home” was written in one sitting back in 2011, while the last half was finished just last year. The innocence of the original composition gives a very easy-going feel, but the text (as usual) needed a few adjustments a few years later to really make this song come alive.

Track 7: You Know It’s True

• First recording date: August 16, 2011

Growing up as a shy introvert left me immobilized when confronted with a crush or a potential date (just ask my wife), but I always wanted to be the confident womanizer who had no trouble flirting with a women. While this never really changed, I did find a way to “fake it” by writing as though I was someone else. “You Know It’s True” was written for my alter-ego who has an abundance of arrogance and confidence – perhaps, an alter-ego with a hyper-ego.

Chase playing “You Know It’s True” at a 2011 Film Festival at Casa Romantica in San Clemente, CA.

Track 8: Matter of Time

• First recording date: November 28, 2018

The melody for “Matter of Time” was one of the few that lingered in my head over the course of two years until I finally wrote it into this pop song. Back in 2016, the first verse was written as I walked my dog (before we got our second) and the melody never left my head, which rarely happens. I found it so frustrating after a few years that I had to write out the full song so I could be done with it and move on!

Track 9: All We Need

• First recording date: May 17, 2018

While in my first years of college, I picked up piano, voice, and guitar because of my new found music theory knowledge thanks to Mr. Weston at Saddleback. Though I learned these instruments enough to experiment with chord progressions and melodic composition, I never had enough to purchase a ukulele. Years later, as a music store employee in 2014, I finally picked up a ukulele just before the store opened and began writing this song. I never got around to finishing this piece, but it lingered in my head as an unfinished project until I received a ukulele for my birthday in 2018. Almost ten days later, the entire song was written and recorded.

Track 10: My Love, My Everything

• First recording date: February 13, 2011

A day before Valentine’s day, I was single and lonely. What better way to channel this energy than through a creative outlet? “My Love, My Everything” expresses the perspective of a guy completely in love with a girl. While vague details leave much to the imagination, the unquestionable trust the protagonist has for his significant other is very much apparent.

This song was written and originally recorded in a single day while I was home sick with a cold. I was so proud I finished it in a day that I had nearly forgotten I was single – another coping mechanism, perhaps?

Track 11: Miles & Miles

• First recording date: July 10, 2017

I named this album after this track because of my love for this song and the purpose behind it. Before leaving for the second round of an international vocal competition in Chicago, I wrote this song for my girlfriend at the time (back in 2014) as an attempt to calm both our minds. We had lived with each other and seen each other for over a year at that point. Spending time apart wasn’t too exciting.

“Miles & Miles” is meant to soothe the heart of a loved one, promising that they’ll be reunited soon and the time spent apart would not compare to the time they’d have together in the future. Hundreds of hours were spent trying to mix and master this song with over 30 drafts being tossed aside. If it wasn’t for my amazing friend, Joris Hoogsteder, I would have never learned how to bring my productions chops to the next level. “Miles & Miles” means a lot to me, but it has taken a large chunk of my life to complete and finalize. So my thinking was: I might as well make it the album title.

Track 12: Always Sky

• First recording date: May 25, 2018

Too often artists are left with cynical viewpoints and discouraging thoughts of how the world should be (as compared to how the world actually is in reality). While I consider myself an artist in training, I, unfortunately, have these same symptoms of being a “Debbie Downer.”

“Always Sky” is meant to be happy through and through. I wanted the listener to smile at the “cute” factor of this happy-go-lucky tune so that my wife would understand that it is possible for me to write a “happy” song. And so, to keep with the aesthetic, the simplistic form and predictable chord progressions make for a charming experience without igniting any deep thinking. Something that takes more effort, at times, to find inspiration for when writing.

Track 13: A Year Ago

• First recording date: June 15, 2014

This album is more of a musical journal that a collection of songs and this track is proof. “A Year Ago” holds a special place in my heart and I spent a while considering whether to share it or not. My current wife and I shared our first anniversary as girlfriend and boyfriend back in 2014 on her favorite beach – that was when I asked her to listen to the original recording of this song. It’s because of this that the emotion behind these words turns “A Year Ago” into more of a personal imprint of what I was feeling at the time (which is far stronger now). Originally, it was just piano and voice. It was only this past year that I added strings and a lofi-inspired beat.

Track 14: And We’ll Stand Alone

• First recording date: December 4, 2010

“And We’ll Stand Alone” was written and originally recorded in a single day when I was feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. The original trumpet and main vocal recordings were preserved for this newly re-mastered version. After having graduated high school over a year prior to the original recording date, I remember listening to bridge and smiling, bringing myself to tears.

Me trying to be cool in a music video for “And We’ll Stand Alone” in 2011

 Writing, making, and producing music gave me such sense of purpose and at that moment, while listening to this “world” I created from scratch, I felt so complete. I can’t believe I made this, I thought. Maybe people will listen to its message. I had hoped people would be changed by something I did, something I created. And just maybe, I would have done something good for the world.

Track 15: Speak Up

• First recording date: September 21, 2018

Through my years of community college, undergrad and graduate school, the hardest challenge for me was to find value in my own opinion. I sincerely believe that everyone has a perspective to share because everyone has their own experiences. “Speak Up” is meant to encourage the quiet among us to speak out against the immorale people of the world. There are far more good people than we realize, but often, it’s those who speak louder than the rest that are heard.

This original song is using a tuning system around A=432Hz (as opposed to the traditional 440Hz) and consistently builds chords upon the pedal tone of 108Hz (out of tune “A”), which in the philosophies of Tibetan chakras is meant to resonate with a person’s mind (a.k.a. the “Crown Chakra”).

After researching into healing frequencies for an album project (“Once Hidden”) commissioned by a professional Reiki healer, I found my findings interesting and decided to utilize it within the context of popular songwriting. “Speak Up” was written just before my work on the album, “Once Hidden,” under the pseudonym MusicalGrowth.com.