Each track on the album has a unique illustration and poem made alongside it. Make sure to click each track's link or open the included digital artbook to see them.

The physical artbook can be purchased here: mybook.to/NotesOfPoemsArtbook

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The album would not have become what it is without the amazing people that contributed their own creativity to it. Thank you to Alice Jette for creating all of the artwork, being incredible to work with, and going above and beyond the whole way through. And to our poets, Brenda Oriana, Jennie Mejan, Chris Gill, Nia Owen, Brandon John, Becki Whitton, and Noah. Thank you all for taking the time to interpret and write for our work, and for being wonderful people.

And thank you to Rob for working with me on this project. It quickly became the most important creative work that I've ever been a part of, in growing closer with you as a friend, and in becoming more familiar with myself.

- Cohen Mejan

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Notes of Poems was emotionally built on a feeling of being back in a place you never wanted to return to, an aggressive tide or a cold wind that has reared its head after a long absence. Or in this case, a loved one falling ill again. Living a wonderful stretch of life only to turn a corner and be back where you were weeks, months, or years ago, thus starting the season anew. These sorts of cycles you can observe in life fascinate me, and although the low points can be truly horrible, I think there is a lot of comfort in seeing the seasons and knowing that things will always come back around. The disconnection that is felt is always capable of being reconnected, the cold of the world can thaw and become warm again.

The project spawned from a session of musical venting at the start of September 2022. From that session came a sound. It was weird, abrasive, loud—a sound that churned like my insides were at the time. That sound made me think of one person in particular very quickly: Cohen Mejan. Over the course of the following week, we bounced ideas back and forth. I would lay down some form of progression or structure, and Cohen would respond with wonderful 'piani' and all sorts of sonic delights (or terrors). It wasn’t long before we had a significant amount of music made, and decided it was something that we both wanted to continue and subsequently release together.

We were greeted with a fantastic surprise at the end of the first month of working on the album, sharing an early version of what would become “Movement 7 - Life Is Not the Same” with our friend Brendy. The music prompted her to write some poetry in response, which very quickly sparked both our interests. The whole poetry layer of the project was set in stone soon after. We cannot begin to explain how much our friends' words inspired us. Many times we were completely dumbfounded when receiving poetry that contained references to track names, or other poems off the album that the person writing had zero knowledge of. A deep and sincere thank you to everyone involved on this aspect of the project. The creativity feedback loop that resulted from the interactions inspired us, and added so much extra heart to the project. "Y’all" are the best.

At some point early on we also got in contact with Alice to do the cover art. The first draft was absolutely stunning and Alice would go on to absolutely spoil us with her time and creativity. We never planned on having individual art to go with every track and poem, but at some point it just made sense as Alice continued to experiment and produce little gems for us to work with. One enormous thank you for Alice.

Lastly, I'm extremely thankful to have had a collaborator like Cohen, and my first album written with another person has definitely set a very high bar for any jolly cooperation that might occur in the future. Thank you for your kindness, your passion, your patience, your complete lack of time signatures, and your incredible raw talent.

- Rob “Ambedo”

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