The Let Go was an experiment for me. I wanted to know what kind of craziness would transpire if I locked myself in the garage for a couple months with a Mac Mini, an Mbox, a piano, two guitars, three keyboards, some loops, and a trumpet; what would happen with a handful of new songs and nobody but me to create the sound around them.

This album isn't what I would necessarily call a "complete thought;" in fact, I often went back and forth as to how many songs I should involve, if I should chop the songlist in half and just make it an EP, etc. But I settled on including everything I had originally planned, knowing that I really wanted you to have this music – even if it's not, in many cases, a fully-formed picture of what I think the songs can ultimately be. Truthfully, at this point, it is my hope that I will have the opportunity to re-record many of these songs for a future record. But I know that when and if that time comes around, there may likely be new songs that take the place of some of these, in which case it seemed all the more imperative that I give you everything I've got right now.

The process for this album was much different than the last. With Acoustic Pop, there were a lot of "safe" decisions made: it being my first real record, various time constraints, money limitations, etc. (Not to mention that a couple of the songs that made it onto that project were written almost three years before it was finally released.) I am still pleased with it as a whole; it is a good summary of some of my optimistic simplicity about living up to that point. Going through this process a second time around, however, I feel like I've learned to appreciate an album for what it is, and that my hold on the concept of what it means to be a human has expanded, grown more complex and deep.

The Let Go was titled such because it seemed to be an overly prominent theme for this group of songs. In fact, over half of the songs on this album have the words "let go" or some variation directly in their lyrics, and the ones that don't still seem to touch on that very topic. It is a constant source of struggle for me to try to let go of things that have happened, and also to be the one who's been let go.

I won't lie to you; the year in which I wrote all of these songs was a tough one; it was a dark, cynical, disappointing period, and, if it's not too depressing, I hope these songs serve as something like a collective photograph of my 2005. Know that when you have my music, you've got a piece of my soul; I hope these songs connect with you as much as they've released me. I guess it's like Eminem says: "Music is reflection of self – we just explain it, then we get our checks in the mail." Well, I'm still waiting for a check like his, but the idea remains the same.

Life is always messier than I think it should be – our choices dwelling in shades of gray instead of stark black and white. I am learning to love that about life, but I fear that, like most everything else, it is a long journey. In any case, this notion of loss seems to be a very central theme of each of our human stories, and remembering that these experiences make us who we are is something that should never be let go.

–Josh Allan
December 20, 2005