Moose/Holding Inside the Sun

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Lyrics and Liner Notes

In 2024, immediately following the release of Luster, Greg turned his attention to a project he had long desired to tackle: a complete overhaul and re-release of his first two albums, Moose and Holding Inside the Sun. Given that it had been 25 years since the latter was released and neither album had been commercially available for at least a decade, he felt it was high time. 

Going back to the original sound files which he had thankfully (mostly) backed up all those years ago, Greg went instrument by instrument, lovingly cleaning and processing each part using modern studio technology. In this manner he was able to improve the sonic characteristics of the original performances. He then set about creating new mixes of each song, staying as faithful as possible to the original mixes while also improving their sound and clarity.

There were some instances in which original performances had to be replaced. In a few cases wherein the quality of the original recording was particularly poor (generally due to substandard recording equipment and/or studio conditions), those instruments had to be replaced with new versions. The most prominent example is the drums, which had been sequenced by hand for the original releases. In 1998 Greg's access to drum sounds was limited to whatever he could sample from music in his CD collection, coupled with a small collection of drum samples he had found online and a few samples he had recorded himself using a friend's snare drum that had been left overnight at his apartment. In 2024, Greg had access to much more advanced tools such as XLN's Addictive Drums and a MIDI drum pad, which he used to re-record most of the drums for the re-issue. Similarly, piano and organ parts had all been sequenced by hand using generic MIDI sounds in 1998, whereas in 2024 Greg had access to a MIDI keyboard and much better sound generators such as Waves' Grand Rhapsody Piano and GSi's Organized Trio. New piano and organ performances were therefore recorded. In one case ("Visions of Angels") the original sound files had been saved in such a manner that instruments could not be properly separated for new mixes, so everything but the vocals and synthesizer solo had to be re-recorded. In cases where instruments were re-recorded, every effort was made to ensure that the original performance was either reproduced note-for-note (e.g., the electric guitar on "Palmshadow") or served as a strong inspiration (e.g., bass guitar on "Car").

The original releases were fairly short by modern standards (eight and ten songs, respectively), so the decision was made to combine them into one album for the re-release. This suggested the need for a new song sequence, which was hammered out over a few iterations. Finally, the album was mastered using Izotope's AI-powered Ozone 11 Elements.

This 25th anniversary re-issue is now considered the definitive version of Greg's earliest solo releases.