about

My younger sister, Reid, died by suicide on April 1, 2025.

Following her death, I found an overwhelming inspiration to make Reid’s Perspective, which is a musical collection of thoughts and feelings that Reid shared with me over the six months that she lived with me and my family before her death.

I made all of the songs on that album in less than 24 hours. Then I spent another day mixing it, then released it.

After creating this, I felt amazed at what I had created and how true it felt to her.

Then I realized that I still hadn’t processed Reid’s death for myself, so I decided to create more music to process what I was thinking and feeling.

I made the Good Grief album in about two days, and I actually didn’t like it at all. I’m not really sure why I felt this way, but I continued to not like it for about two months.

One day, I randomly decided to listen to Good Grief again, and finally saw the potential and felt the feelings that I now feel about it. I realized how powerful and beautiful it is and how much it means to me.

I began the journey of taking my time to finish it and really letting it take its shape.

For many months, I sat with this project, making small changes slowly. I had no expectations or deadlines. I was present with the process.

Along the way, my therapist encouraged me to create a painting with my emotions instead of with my mind. Instead of “figuring it out” with a reference photo and a clear direction, I closed my eyes and painted what I felt. This was the birth of the Good Grief Painting and a new way of thinking about my art for me.

At some point, I came across the idea of creating a short film for the project. The only direction I had was to film myself in my studio from the same exact spot over the course of several days.

I built a cardboard phone holder on my studio wall to accomplish this.

For seven days in a row, I listened to the album and filmed myself doing various things in my studio.

I edited during filming and finished up the following week.

After showing it to my friend Deven, he suggested that I add a bit of journaling on top. I loved the idea but it took me a long time to follow through with this and almost got in the way of me completing the project.

I actually got to the point where I was going to throw out the idea of journaling just so that I could complete the project. But when I opened the video editing software again to export it, I just started typing and the words came out.

I am so grateful for the healing that this project has created for me. I hope this energy finds you well.

With love,

-t