I spent the summer of 2025 writing new songs. I wrote over 40 and then narrowed down to 20 that I really liked. In the fall I got really busy in the studio and was mostly working on other people’s music. I did manage to complete one song that didn’t really fit with the album and release it as a single. It is called GBOT and released December 5th. This winter I am hunkering down to finish “Who is Reptyle Brainz?”

This album will be a murder mystery - and you get to solve the mystery! I’ve written the story, defined the characters and pondered the history and back stories. This story is based on the Reptyle Brainz songs I've released previously and takes place between the time of “Reptyle Brainz (Enmity)” and “Reptyle Brainz 2”. One of the characters is the guy from “Lost My Grip”. The story ties all of these songs together into one narrative. 

The songs are each from the point of view of one of the characters and take on the personality of those characters. Three songs are from the perspective of Reptyle Brainz himself. These are dark alt-dance with lots of twists and surprises (think Nine Inch Nails meets Rezz). Three songs are from the point of view of the primary investigator, Detective Emma Simms. her songs are heavy and full of attitude (Royal Blood or Nothing But Thieves). The remaining songs are from various characters and span from hip-hop influences to art rock (Twenty-One Pilots, King Crimson).

My goal for this album is catchy, upbeat songs that keep you engaged with lots of evolving textures and abrupt transitions. There will be no guitar on this album. Instead I am playing a lot of bass in different ranges, often with heavy distortion. I’m using a POG 2 pedal to bring the bass up an octave (or down an octave in some cases). My Rickenbacker bass has a feature called “Rick-o-sound” that lets you have each pick-up on a separate output. I run one pick-up to my bass amp and the other through the POG and into a Marshall amp for a very big and heavy sound.

I now have 16 songs I am finishing, performing and polishing. It is tricky to get a complete murder mystery conveyed through lyrics. I expect to finish the album around January or February and start releasing singles by March 2026.