Get ready to hear Richard String as you’ve never heard him before.

On October 7, Richard String – the pseudonym/original music project of producer Gavin Shea – released the 8-track album A Love, Interrupted (the unfinished works of a previous life). The release is a departure from the typical Richard String sound – the multi-layered, futuristic synth pop of previous releases is traded in for a raw indie rock sensibility that throws flavors from ELO, Ben Folds, Better Than Ezra, and more into a blender. The end result? An unexpected, yet delicious concoction of rock and roll that captures the imagination.

What’s particularly interesting about A Love, Interrupted is that none of the tracks are technically “finished” from a production standpoint. Each track is presented in demo form, right down to each track listed under its “ROUGH” file name. This choice gives each song’s organic textures and unfiltered emotions room to breathe, and shows us the honest, natural beauty of unpolished musical expression.

As for the song ideas themselves? They came from a dark period in Shea’s life; one marked by massive discomfort and change. The tunes themselves aided in the healing process, and stand to commemorate an important period of transformation.

“The creation process gave me everything I needed from these songs, and helped me return to myself,” Shea noted in an Instagram post about the album. “That’s all that’s important in the end. I was upset, angry even, and felt abandoned, and you can hear that in these scratch vocals and random musings that were never readdressed, but I don’t feel that way anymore.”

Track listing
FOOL’S ERRAND_ROUGH.1
DR. ALTO’S MIRACLE CLEANSER_ROUGH.1
COUCH SURFIN_ROUGH.2
NEVER IN THE RIGHT MOOD_ROUGH.2
TAKE YOUR LOVE_ROUGH.1
CASH FLOW_ROUGH.2
THE BALLAD OF BEAU GRAY_ROUGH.3
WAITING FOR YOU_ROUGH.2