“While playing a sold-out rock show at a big club in Boston in 1993, it suddenly hit me how completely unfulfilled I felt as a musician. The electric guitar had captivated me for nearly 15 years, but that was about to change. The next day I came across a street musician named Ned Landin who played acoustic guitar in an incredibly powerful way that completely leveled me. That was it. I went home, put the Strat in the closet, grabbed my old acoustic, and fell in love. Consistent Variation was formed over the next two weeks, lying on the floor in my apartment with the lights off, tuning the guitar weird, and just exploring. It was the most amazing feeling of freedom. For the first time, I wasn’t composing by knowledge. I had absolutely no idea what I was playing or why. I just played what felt good. Friends convinced me to record some of the stuff I was playing and release it, so I set up my 4-track cassette machine and just improvised. The original recording was selling so well locally that I decided to shop it to the top three major instrumental labels to see if I could get any national interest. Much to my surprise, I got offers from all of them and my new career as an acoustic guitarist was born. This is a true grassroots recording and this reissue CD is completely unaltered. Don’t look for refined composition or creative production values. But of you’re interested in hearing the energy and enthusiasm of my initial raw, unrestrained, and improvisational acoustic explorations, then you might just love it.”

– REY