What «5 to 9» Actually Means

«9 to 5» is a phrase everybody already owns. It's the shift you clock into, the part of the day that isn't really yours. I kept thinking about the other hours, the ones you actually get to keep, and at some point I just turned the numbers around. «5 to 9».

The whole record runs like one long day. Side A is the wind-down that refuses to wind down. You're tired but your head won't shut off at 2 AM, and you spend a lot of energy going nowhere. Side B is what you do about it. The small, stubborn things you pull back for yourself before the alarm starts the loop again.

I didn't want it to come out as a complaint, though. Almost none of us are going to torch our lives and disappear into the woods. What we actually do is protect the edges. A drive at midnight with nobody else awake. A song you scratch out at the kitchen table. A voice you love on the phone. That margin is the whole point of «5 to 9», and honestly I think it counts for more than the answer people expect when they ask what you do.

Ten songs, one workday. The first single lands in September 2026.