Greg Mendez + First Time / Alone (Deluxe Edition (CD)

This deluxe CD features ‘Greg Mendez’ + the ‘First Time/Alone’ EP.

First TimeAlone, Greg Mendez’s first release with Dead Oceans, came together in late summer and early fall of 2023; the songs here appear in the order in which they were written, recorded straight to four-track in the small spare room of his West Philadelphia apartment. It’s a four song arc, a spectral passageway, one brief and fluid body of work that hangs together from the mournful opening of “Mountain Dew Hell” to the pitched-up vocals on “Pain Meds,” a tiny song floundering in the enormity of grief. The experience of listening through is like waking up from a half-remembered dream, a shadow in the corner of the room, a strange solitude, a temporal New York autumn with gray skies and naked trees. But while the release is sparse and spontaneous, it’s tactile and consuming, a glimpse into the beautiful, lonely worlds that live in the core of a Greg Mendez song.

First TimeAlone is the inverse of his 2023 self-titled album, a meticulous and labored-over collection of songs that went on to become a surprise slowburn success. Mendez has released music in various capacities across 15 years living in Philadelphia and New York, but the self-titled was what propelled him to a wider attention, a critical breakthrough on best-of lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Paste, and more.

Track List:

1. Rev. JohnFriend
2. Shark’s Mouth
3. Cop Caller
4. Maria
5. GoodbyeTrouble
6. Sweetie
7. Clearer Picture (of You)
8. Best Behavior
9. Hoping You’re Doing Okay
10. Mountain Dew Hell
11. First Time
12. Alone
13. Pain Meds