Greg Mendez, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, releases a video for new singles “Best Behavior” and “Hoping You’re Doing Okay.” The two songs are the closers on his fantastic soon to be released self-titled album, out May 5th via Forged Artifacts and Devil Town Tapes.

“‘Best Behavior,’ written towards the end of the recording process, is the newest song on the record,” Mendez explains. “‘Hoping You’re Doing Okay’ is the oldest, written in 2009. Both deal with complicated, non-romantic love. The video was shot by my good friend, Craig Scheihing, and features two people who are very important to me.”

On his self-titled album, the prolific and thoughtful songwriter explores themes of heartbreak and addiction with an intentional, authentic haze and a quiet, lo-fi urgency. While recognizing the severity of certain situations, Mendez is also careful to showcase the absurdity of our reality, and how that can often highlight a softness around the edges.

For Greg Mendez, reflection doesn’t mean a static image in a mirror, or even a face he recognizes. It’s more a kaleidoscopic mirage, where paths taken shapeshift with the prospect of paths untread, and the subconscious merges with the intentional. On his self-titled new album, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isn’t a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humor.

While this is technically Mendez’s third full-length album, his back catalog boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. He’s a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction.

Greg Mendez was written in fragments, some stretching across more than a decade, with Mendez reworking old ideas and arrangements, and others blossoming much more recently. The weight of time––and perhaps the anxiety in running out of it––clouds the album, as Mendez prods at some painful experiences from his childhood and early adulthood. The common thread connecting the characters is their evident imperfections, and the various degrees of damage they cause, both knowingly and unknowingly. But where do we draw the line between a good person and a bad person? For Mendez, it’s never been that easy. 

“There’s a lot of pretty bleak memories in the songs but one thing that I hope comes through is that nothing is ever fully dark,” he explains. While recognizing the severity of certain situations, Mendez is also careful to showcase the absurdity of our reality, and how that can often highlight a softness around the edges. The album’s artwork: a Virgin Mary staring at Mendez’s name, is a smirk at the serious, where earnesty can still be encouraged, and the light and the dark can effortlessly co-exist. 

Photo Courtesy: Craig Scheihing