Playing live’s an ephemeral thing - what doesn’t land in Cleveland can easily be reworked for Chicago. Nothing’s locked, nothing’s settled, and the show’s free to evolve over the course of weeks and months until, in last fall’s case, a soul/funk band closes out their tour covering Rage Against the Machine, fronted by a tour manager in a rainbow suit.

Making records, or singles in my case, you actually have to make decisions with a degree of finality, knowing there’s a 100% likelihood you’ll listen back and think dammit, I missed it, but it’s too late, it’s in the internet’s clumsy hands now, and I’d best get down to the business of crying myself to sleep in my cold, lonely bed, without romantic companionship or the faintest suggestion that’s even a possibility.

So it can be grim releasing new music, but this time around, while the absence of romantic companionship rings painfully true, I’m feeling pretty good about my place in the world.

First single of many comes out tomorrow.