'Complicity' is an improvised work, one which I'd started to make in early September, 2001, and which I completed a few days after September 11th. It says nothing about the time or situation, but is imbued somewhat with the fear and anger I felt toward my family, neighbors--seemingly near all Americans who suddenly seemed willing to entrust an imbecile and his evil cohort to use a tragedy to beget a travesty on an incomprehensible scale, and who suddenly looked at you askance if you didn't seem to share their flag-waving vigor. 20 years later--all that we feared came to pass, and more; and in some ways that feeling of being afraid of Americans never left (and probably was nothing new in 2001, but as a 21 year old, it was cemented).

The album was created almost entirely with a terrible, cheap Casiotone keyboard, run through some odd little travel-size all-in-one effects processor, with a violin on two tracks (on "Violence" played by me, on "Autumnal" played by my father, to a guitar backing that was removed), and a Danelectro guitar and a 1970s Arp duophonic synth left in my room by a friend (on "Sympathizer"). It's too inept to claim any influences--at that age, I was soaking in but incapable of replicating electric Miles, Can, Brian Eno, none of whom I'll besmirch with "credit" for anything here, other than feeling they'd somehow made skill less important than play (though they did so with all-time talent and skill). But like the completely different, acoustic album I made a few months prior ('The Irish Sea,') it achieves atmosphere, and captures emotion, all I really set out to achieve (and all I could hope for if I tried to create music again, now).