Photo by Juliette Boulay

“Alone”, the latest preview and titular B-side from Greg Mendez’s forthcoming EP, First Time / Alone, finds the Philly songwriter’s words painstaking and plainspoken, and his instrument of choice — a bare bones acoustic guitar strummed in exercise upon mending from wrist surgery which emotively balladeers over — a reminder that some of what’s best written comes not from adorning fretwork and production with detail and gloss, but rather a frank, homespun relatability backed by the heart of human desire, if maybe touched up with some romantic copy in its script. “Outside your house / An angel is knocking at your door / I want more / Than what I came here looking for / I’m alone / The bitter devil keeping score,” he sings, or perhaps better stated — long sighs through his song. These are hymnals of solitude with universal appeal, yet best heard in your own quiet company, just as they found Mendez.

Directed by: Luke LeCount

Greg Mendez’s First Time / Alone will be released October 18th on Dead Oceans.