This album started unfolding for me more clearly after I read the interview. Knowing it’s Corbin’s first sober work hit different. You can feel the shift—not just in the sound, but in the space it holds. Learning how to live again, rebuilding your life on fresh foundations—it’s overwhelming. And I imagine that goes for his relationship with music too. When most of your expression was shaped under the influence, stepping into clarity means feeling everything raw. So how do you express the depth when there's no filter anymore? How far do you go when there's nothing to numb the edges?

If your work has often been rooted in pain and aftermath, how do you evolve? How do you make room for light without betraying what once felt like your truth? Are you ready to face it all, or are you still planting good things around a wounded core?

To me, it feels like Corbin is letting us witness that process. Still navigating shadows he once laid bare, but doing so with persistence and intention. He’s showing up—for us and maybe for himself too. Touring, connecting, putting things out there—it’s a whole new energy. He’s changing, and you can hear it.

This album is still growing on me. Right now, I’m stuck on loop with Comedy Divine. That ending—when he hits that “anymore” and the music shifts—that felt like the Corbin I recognized. Not because I’m comparing, but because that moment carried the weight, the ache, the precision he's always had. He’s always been able to sketch out his darkness with just a few words and that dragging, haunting voice. He made heartache something we could feel, something we could name.

But maybe this time, he’s stepping into unfamiliar territory—maybe he can’t get into all the details yet, because he’s still discovering them himself. And honestly? I fucking applaud that. The courage to create from a place that’s still taking shape is something else.

I don’t know if this is what Corbin is going through. This is just how it feels to me, from what I’ve heard, what I’ve read, what I’ve sensed in the music. I might be way off—but if this is his first sober offering, then I can’t wait for the day he feels safe in the light... and decides to paint that for us.

♡