The record was made in Louisiana, but it is important to start with Texas. It is the hidden point of dilation that makes all of these songs cohere, gel, carbonate. Think about the Texas flag; one red stripe, one white stripe, a field of blue and the lone star— the base unit of the American formula.

We made this album in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans during the summertime, and it was hot, and the house we recorded in was a mansion, and it was on the corner of Royal and Desire. Paradoxical terms. Maybe contradictory. Trying to conjure an example of Royal Desire makes me nervous. It is the first image one sees in the cloud, the most obvious one, and seems to say something meaningful about the music. Though, maybe it is just distracting from the deeper picture.