2020 marked the ten year anniversary since we first decided we wanted to try our hand at music. 12/13/20 marks the one year anniversary of our debut album "Last Night, and All of our Glorious Mishaps". The twelve months in between have been a journey of isolation, self reflection, and creation. When the world shut down due to Covid-19 so did our lives in most aspects, and we felt the void on top of the virus, protest, and elections. After our sophomore album, "One More For Safety" we decided to take a break, and focus on both life, and projects we have with other artist, however one more song needed to be made before the year's end.

"Quarantine Dreaming" is neither uplifting, or breaking. It's not a social commentary, nor is it an escape from reality. It's an honest expression of the world we currently live in. Our music has always been heavy, and this is no exception, however we were able to build bridges, and work with friends in a time that can be unattainable.

Front, and center:

Myka 9 is a legendary West Coast artist. Co-founder of Freestyle Fellowship, and Project Blowed alum in addition to Good Life OG. Myka has been influential to not only the West Coast, but global Hip-Hop in general. It's an honor we got to work with him.

Kadesh Flow is a multi talented emcee, trombonist, and producer. Having produced for Toonami Asia, and having recorded trombone for Jidenna and underground stalwarts like Strange Music's Ubiquitous and JL, it's a treat we got to build with him on this song.

DJ Cool Handz Luke is a Flagstaff OG; turntablist, deejay, jungle artist, and hip-hop Producer. When An Illustrated Mess was in its infancy he was one of the local artist we seen from a far, and grew to admire. From watching him open for Eyedea & Abilities in 2009, to having a project with now under the name Credible Outcome, we're happy to call him a collaborator, and a friend.

Tamara Seaton, aka DJ Tam Taco is a deejay, and a violinist. We met her in 2019 when she worked with us on the song "Here", and she's quickly become a friend, and someone we respect, and admire for both her music, and her work for the community.

Amber Martin married into the music, and we probably annoy her, but we're thankful she comes through every time. From "Gasp" in 2016 to "Here" in 2019 her vocals are always a beautiful contrast to what's happening in the song. After Myka's verse you can hear her harmonizing on the bridge, and final chorus.

Behind the scenes:

Alex Begay is our day three. He's been our go to mixing engineer since we released "Does It Matter?" in 2016, and he's one of only a few we trust to handle our songs. He's been on the journey with us this far, and wherever the road takes us next we want him in the vehicle with us.

Onewerd holds a special place in our story. Not only has he become a good friend, but he's also responsible for the last 12 months of our music up to this point. One cold night in Flagstaff we booked him, and dubldragon for a house show, and afterwards he encouraged us to reach out to Fake Four Inc about the Freecember. The rest is history. This time around rather than Alex handling everything, Tyler was the mastering engineer.

Andy McAlpine is an artist we've been fans of for a long time. His work with Doomtree, and Fake Four Inc has always been impeccable. It's an honor we got to work with him on this song.

Deidra Peaches is our day four. We met her in 2014, and over the years she's become our sister. Through thick, and thin she's there, and we love her because of it.

Unless someone is entirely self produced, there's always a team behind the music. Teams have become harder to maintain, and curate due to the virus, however we were able to keep it going for this single, and we're very blessed to have worked with this one. We hope everyone can find something they like in this. This is the end of one chapter. It's a eulogy to the past, and an invitation to whatever comes next. We appreciate, and love everyone who's been with us this far.

Thank you,

Cecil Patrick Tso