Hey guys, Jason here. Just thought I’d let you guys know that I have putting the finishing touches on a solo album! Yes, after all the false promises and delaying, my album Realm is to be released fairly soon. I performed a song live from what I thought was going to be the album, but unfortunately, that fell through and Zyzzyx is no longer part of the album. I thought that, while I’m still writing for a new Mind album. The difference with this album is that it is very upbeat, surprisingly upbeat for someone who has written depressing songs throughout his career! It will still have the proggy sound you’re used to, but there’ll be a lot of English and South American folk influences, as well as a large amount of Electronica. I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to devoted fans who are used to Minds acoustic and softer stuff, but for people who have only heard, say, Bludgeoned into Submission, this might come as a bit of a shock.

Hopefully, I can get some guests in on this album; there are loads of people I think that some of these songs will fit. I mean, there are a couple of pop songs, and a couple of songs that will be good for a jam. It’s a very open album. An album that I’ve been meaning to create for a long time, and I finally have.

Some of the songs were actually written ages ago, like in 2006 or sometime around there. These are songs like Heart and Thoughtwaves. I still count them among my greatest works. The others were written in between The Aeronaut and Shattered Fairytale, a time in which I felt extremely upbeat for some reason, thus provoking the whole idea of this album. Whilst in this writing process, I went on a little break to visit some of my mothers relatives in Ecuador. This made writing songs a hell of a lot easier, and it also meant I could use some of the native sounds which are present in tracks like The Golden Land and Machalilla. It is quite an emotional album, but the emotion is happiness for once. There is no concept, it is merely a collection of songs that I have written.

I don’t intend for this album to be massive. It’s just a little project I’m working on for the amusement of myself. If other people like it, that’s just a bonus. I just want the message to be about happiness and love for once, rather than death and despair.

Jason Smith.