Greg Mendez signs to Dead Oceans for forthcoming EP, First Time / Alone

First Time / Alone came together in late summer and the early autumn of 2023, on the heels of the release of Greg Mendez, his self-titled breakthrough album, also being reissued via Dead Oceans.

After that release, came an intensive surgery on Mendez’s right wrist. Next, a four-month purgatory of bad TV, cancelled touring, and physical therapy ensued, a painful stretch of boredom leaving Mendez unable to play guitar. The EP’s A-side is a time capsule of that fever-dream, with Mendez’s left hand plucking out the chords.

The songs on the release appear in the order in which they were written, recorded straight to four-track in the small spare room of his West Philadelphia apartment. He initially thought he would need to refine them, building them out to the same scale as his self-titled album, but the more he returned to the work, the more it felt complete and true as-is.