"The Retired Cosmonaut" began in April 2013 as a two track single, each piece over 8 minutes in length and combined backyard field recordings with sparse, original keyboard-based instrumentation. The result was two hazy, psychedelic soundscapes influenced by Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" and Stars of the Lid's "Ballasted Orchestra".

Part I (Look at the Stars) blends synths recorded in my old apartment in Hamtramck with a ballad performed on an old piano at the Traffic Jam restaurant in Detroit. Bookending the track are two recordings of my nephew, who was a toddler at the time. I especially enjoy the opening moments where you can hear him marvel at a night's sky full of stars. Blended throughout you will hear a procession of found sounds including a light rain, a wind chime, church bells and bird song. The keyboards finally fade back into the backyard where we join my sister, mom, niece and nephew playing with silly string.

Part II (Hamtramck 1914) begins with near silence, slowly revealing layers of a desolate, windy ambiance with chirping birds and morning doves. A sample from Arabic AM radio is manipulated into a bizarre loop that works its way up in the mix. A rainy road with passing cars merges with a string-based drone and eerie synths appearing from the periphery. While Part I has a definite melancholy to it, this part veers into the world of dark ambient.

This new reissue subtly retouches these two parts and throws in a brand new extended track, entitled "Meeting of the Moonwatchers". This extended journey was pieced together with a combination of field recordings from 2013 and a few new captures. The long intro and outro are designed to enhance the cinematic nature and ambiance. Once again we are in the backyard - of the house I grew up in - but building leaf piles with my brother and our niece and nephew. Layers of found sounds slowly enter and exit the mix, leading the listener on an equally relaxing and eerie journey. Sounds from space ISS communications, a water stream from Prospect Park, Morse code, and original piano drones emerge and recede into the horizon as the track ebbs and flows over its 12 minute runtime. Eventually the piece resolves into the patter of rain on an umbrella, AM radio transmissions, and the same backyard we set off in.