Delusions End by Garreth Broke

I wrote Delusions End over the course of about 2 weeks in autumn 2020. At the time a couple of my most valued friendships were falling apart and there was a sense that the world seemed on the brink of breakdown. At the time I really wanted to write something optimistic — I really wanted to feel optimistic — but it was never convincing. My writers block only ended when I abandoned optimism, at which point the album appeared almost by itself. In December I realised the titles I had chosen for each track were wrong, too positive, so I rewrote them. Shortly afterwards I decided not to release it at all but was later persuaded to change my mind.

Several months later I still don’t really know how to talk about it. Many of the typical clichés of felted piano albums are there but upended, turned on their head. At times it’s fragmentary, dissonant, sometimes messy. Motifs are established then abandoned without warning, chord progressions are disrupted, dissonances abruptly penetrate. My record label memorably described it to me as “almost sinister” and they’re not wrong. Even when it’s calm there’s a sense that the whole thing could fall apart at any moment. Weirdly, I kinda like it.

Tracklist

1.	A Common Ground	2:10

2.	Beg To Differ	1:27

3.	An Unquestioned Answer	2:17

4.	You Wanted A Waltz	1:47

5.	Pivot	1:51

6.	Are You Even Listening?	1:50

7.	Portrait of an Absence	2:06

8.	Is This All There Is?	2:22

9.	Letting Go	1:43

Credits

released March 12, 2021

Artwork: Anna Salzmann
Music: Garreth Brooke
Mastering: Wil Bolton

Thanks: David Wenngren, Jim Perkins, Madeleine Cocolas, Matt Stewart-Evans, Catherine Stephen, Simeon Walker, Marie Awadis, my Patreon patrons

License