Almost three years after the release of my last album, Canvouver, I’m excited to announce that my third album of . . . instrumental neoclassical electronic art rock, I guess . . . is forthcoming. The new album is called Layercake, and it will be released on September 29th, 2026, via Bandcamp. The pre-order for the digital edition is live, and as of today, you’ll get two tracks, the title track and “Greenbrier Parkway”, to download now. A CD edition is also planned, with the announcement forthcoming. The artwork is another one of my own illustrations, featuring a rather disturbing slice of cake with googly eyes:
Layercake took so long in the oven as a result of a pretty eventful few years–right before Canvouver was released at the end of 2023, I received a promotion at my “day job” (actually graveyard shift), which brought with it a more stable existence and some more intellectual stimulation, but more hours and less music-making time. My father, aunt, and uncle also all passed away during a seven-month span in 2025. Amidst this, I also had to help re-situate my now 97-year-old grandmother, who was constantly in and out of the hospital, and after my father’s passing, I had to move back into my parents’ house to watch over my mother, who has been experiencing significant cognitive decline over the past couple years. Being the only able-bodied adult left in the immediate family, it has meant trying to manage the affairs of five other people beyond myself, which has been daunting, to say the least.
While the new cake in town has its glossier moments akin to its immediate forebear (arguably the two road tracks, the motorik “Greenbrier Parkway” and the 14-minute-long closer, “Barnes Road”), Layercake also features plenty of downright weird stuff, albeit in more calculated, intricate, drawn-out (and dare I say . . . layered) ways than Electrical Gremlin‘s shock factor approach (pun very much intended) over its 63-minute runtime.
The calculation is indeed quite literal, as many of the tracks feature odd meters, polyrhythmic workings, and numerological obsessions, often veering rather noticeably in the directions of math rock (“Crabwalk”), IDM (“Cloverdale”), and Wetton-era King Crimson (“Aumsville”), not to mention the raging borderline jazz fusion/funk of the title track (which even happens to be predominantly in the Locrian mode).
As far as the plans for streaming services, Layercake will be getting served up there on a layer-by-layer, track-by-track basis, until the whole cake is eventually assembled later in 2026. The “first layer”, containing the title track, is now up (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube). The second layer, which adds “Greenbrier Parkway”, will launch on the same day as the full album release on Bandcamp (September 29th, 2026), with details about the third layer and beyond coming soon.
If you’d like to get an early taste of “dessert”, I’ll also be hosting a Bandcamp Listening Party one week before release, on September 22nd, 2026, at 7pm US Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7:00). For those wondering how that translates to other timezones:
- US Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7:00): September 22nd at 7pm
- US Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4:00): September 22nd at 10pm
- British Summer Time (UTC+1:00): September 23rd at 3am
- Central European Summer Time (UTC+2:00): September 23rd at 4am
- Japan Standard Time (UTC+9:00): September 23rd at 11am
- Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00): September 23rd at 12pm
I hope you all check out the new album and find it enjoyable!
-Alex