After "Aries", Dean was a bit spent. Burned out. Over it. Enter then a long period of self-reflection, growth and inner-healing. Dean began embracing aspects of himself he'd been afraid to accept, such as how much he likes and is influenced by 60's alt-country and folk music. Subsequently, Dean agreed with himself to just write what he feels like

After "Aries", Dean was a bit spent. Burned out. Over it. Enter then a long period of self-reflection, growth and inner-healing. Dean began embracing aspects of himself he'd been afraid to accept, such as how much he likes and is influenced by 60's alt-country and folk music. Subsequently, Dean agreed with himself to just write what he feels like writing in the moment and stop hyper-analyzing everything to try and win "cool" points with indie kids. The result was a whole big bag of songs with a variety of comingling styles. He went in for some recording time on Music Row at Kent Wells Productions with engineer Kevin Willis, and sat in his home studio some more after those initial sessions, producing the twelve tracks on the new album "Optimist Breakfast", as follows: Fear Your Death One Dollar Ring The Quiet Sounds of Sewing Roger McClain Praying Sweet Virginia (Comes Again) Dennis Ira Magdelena Shudders If You Can't Be Good (Be Careful) Madison Avenue Would You Like to Come In?

The album is comprised entirely of live takes, performed alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonicas on a neck rack. There is no pitch-correction or "punching-in" on this album. This same batch of songs will be given the full-band treatment on "Pessimist Lunch", to be recorded late-spring of 2023 and a live-album entitled "Realist Supper", to be recorded at a show later this year.