Signals In the Dark

Silence plugs in...
“Signals in the Dark” feels like the audio equivalent of sitting in a leather recliner with a glass of scotch and a slowly burning cigar while rain taps against the windows outside.
— Austin Sher, We Write About Music

"strikingly haunting and personal, and it all reads as a series of confessions, inspired storytelling that’s not flashy or anthemic"
--​ Mesmerized

 

Empathy for the Night Fly

"quietly radical...an utterly immersive sonic landscape"
— SoapLife Magazine
Lyrics:
They got divorced after she cheated on him
So they never got to go to Montreaux
She would insist that I try giving a listen
To her ex’s 10 P.M. radio show
So one night I tune in
As he’s introducing
“Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most”
Just before the music starts, there’s an audible sigh
And I feel a bit of Empathy For The Night Fly

She hosted open mics on Tuesday nights
In the backroom of a bar out in the Mission
Met her at a Samba class, went to her poetry slams
She’s got a real bad thing for the musicians
She boasts that we’re the hottest couple
Having breakfast at the Palace
After confiding she’s lost her ambition
Didn’t ask yet she explains — she fell for another guy
All I can feel is Empathy For The Night Fly
​
We once went to a concert at Yerba Buena gardens
She wore a loose fitting saffron summer dress
We picnicked out on the grass listened to a jazz ensemble
I caught a brief glimpse of one of her breasts
All she could talk about
Was how hot she was
For that trumpeter in the driving cap and tweed vest
I lean back and look up at a sunny clear blue sky
Feeling a twinge of Empathy For The Night Fly
"The silences are threaded into the storytelling, creating a contemplative, jazz-influenced experience that invites stillness and attention"
— Lyrical Odyssey

"a quiet, powerful look at memory, connection, and shared feelings"
​— Honk Magazine
​
"Lucas Davis’ trumpet offers emotional lifts, and Bryan Horne’s bass a steady grounding pulse. The electric guitar by Christopher Fortier adds edges that deepen the palette of this track and lend it a cinematic depth"
— UpHere Magazine

Credits:
vocals: E.G. Phillips
trumpet: Lucas Davis
electric guitar: Xifer Fortier
rhodes piano: Kevin Seal
upright bass: Bryan Horne
drums: Chris McGrew
​
recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco

mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com
produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal

written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)
 

The Music I Still Adore

"...sounds like a quiet conversation with the past, where memory is a friend alive and changing"
​— Uphere Magazine
Lyrics
I’ve got daggers in my mind
Glass shards work’n through my chest
I need to walk and wander
While my thoughts crash and crest
Blossoms saturate the air
As I head down towards the Fillmore
Inside the Elite cafe
A jazz combo does it’s thing
And I remember…

Ahh… yes…
That’s the music I still adore

I’ve been spinning my wheels
Seed corn’s all I have to eat
My eyes are red and sunken
My soles have worn into the streets
Why’d I stop listening to these sounds?
How’d I forget this feeling of rapport?
The gentle rhythmic swings
The plunk of the upright’s strings
Now I remember…

Ahh… yes…
That’s the music I still adore

A couple passes by arm in arm
They lean into one another
The daggers and the glass
Dig even deeper
​
I catch a bus back home
Strung out and near collapse
As I crawl onto my couch
I see you’ve sent me a text
Though you’re never quite in reach
You’re always a source of support
And though you don’t use words
Just little pictures
It reminds me…
​
Ahh… yes…
You are the music I still adore
Credits
vocals: E.G. Phillips
backing vocals: nyssa, Kevin Seal
electric guitar: Xifer Fortier
rhodes piano: Kevin Seal
upright bass: Bryan Horne
drums: Chris McGrew
​
recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco

mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com

produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal

written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)

cover photo by Sonya Herrera
Notes
With a recording built around Fortier playing a warm semi-hollow body guitar (a Reverend Manta Ray, if you must know) that gives hints of a country-tinged twang to flavor an overall vintage swing jazz vibe, this song is a wistful love letter to the sounds and relationships that shape us.

I don't see this as some sort of saccharine exercise in nostalgia — rather it is a moment of rediscovery and relief that feels like a cool breeze in the oppressive heat of emotional turmoil.
Picture
Xifer Fortier on guitar
 

Dreamcatcher

"The track gives the impression of listening to a whispered thought, an inner dialogue that nyssa embodies with disarming precision."
— Extravafrench
Lyrics:
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
Maybe I’d catch you
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
So I could hold you

You act as though I’m a spider’s web
You avoid entanglement In my threads
Do I really come across like I would drain the life from you?

I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
Maybe I’d catch you
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
So I could hold you

I’m catnip for nightmares, I’m their siren’s song
They’re woven into my tapestry as if that’s where they belong
How’d I ever manage to get so caught up in all of this?
​
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
Maybe I’d catch you
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher…
So I could hold you
But I’m a Dreamcatcher…

Notes:
I met Anyssa at one of Aleta Simone’s residency shows at Bazaar Cafe (always fertile hunting ground for musicians to partner with) while I was in the process of recording the tracks for Signals in the Dark at Hyde Street Studios. She struck me as a perfect fit for doing the vocals on Dreamcatcher, which I never felt like I could really pull off myself to get the vibe I was looking for on this recording.
Credits:
vocals: nyssa
guitar: Xifer Fortier
keys: Kevin Seal
bass: Liam Craddock
drums: Chris McGrew
​
recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco

mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com
​
produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal
​
written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)
"This work of rare emotional nakedness confirms Phillips as a master of shadow and nuance, capable of transforming absence into a vibrant presence."
​— Iggy

"an intimate, almost hypnotic listening experience that feels like more than just a ballad: a small, clear universe between dream and reality"
​— NenesButler

“Fans of reflective indie jazz will be entranced by the song’s atmospheric beauty and want to listen to it on repeat.”
​—  UpHere Magazine

"Built on a delicately interwoven foundation of acoustic piano, the track moves with an unhurried elegance. Kevin Seal’s piano work on the song has to be the emotional spine here, each note placed with care, allowing silence to become just as important as sound."
— Austin Sher, We Write About Music

"The interplay between voice and instrumentation creates a sublime balance. Nothing feels rushed, and nothing feels overstated. "
— Edgar Allen Poets

"nyssa’s airy and rich vocals are undoubtedly the main event: hushed, vulnerable, and reflective, they draw you in slowly, and before you know it, they’re lingering in your mind, tinging everything you think"
— Lost in the Manor
 

Please Don't Make Me Come Back From the Moon

"a beautifully strange offering that invites listeners to step outside themselves and embrace the unknown"
— Honk Magazine
Lyrics:
Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon
I see no need to return any time soon
I surf the lunar craters and wheel around on the dunes
Comb the shores of the maria like a private lagoon
Scoop up her wat’ry beams with my trusty teaspoon
Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon

Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon
It’s much more cozy up here than one would assume
Here I'm able to float like a hot air balloon
Watch the cows leaping by as I fiddle my tunes
Bake rice cakes with rabbits, eat cheese all afternoon
Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon

Folks from the big blue marble in my sky
Keep sending messages to check if I’m alright
When they’re the ones who get so bored they end up picking fights
On a world that’s desperate and so homogenized
Don’t twist my deprivations into a careless sleights
Then ask why I even gotta have an appetite

Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon
It feels so snug to be wrapped in an airtight cocoon
I’ve grown quite accustomed to her ashen gloom
Got myself plenty of nutmeg and the mugwort’s in bloom
Prick my finger on a spindle as I weave gold on a loom
Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon
"Phillips’s singing is both controlled and moving, suggesting quiet resistance beneath the song’s silly surface"
​— Up Here Magazine

" the idea of “Miles Davis in space” is a handy starting point for the song"
— Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover

"The music breathes, slowly, as if it were rejecting any form of earthly urgency."
​— Extravafrench

Credits:
​vocals: E.G. Phillips
backing vocals: nyssa
trumpet, flugelhorn: Lucas Davis
electric guitar: Xifer Fortier
keys: Kevin Seal
upright bass: Bryan Horne
drums: Chris McGrew
​
recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco

mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com
​
produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal

written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)

Notes
I’m not sure if I had been aware that the Artemis II mission was taking place the same month that I planned to release this track that I would have done it — it seems like a risky move if something more major than their issues with Microsoft Outlook had happened. As it was, I was blissfully aware from the writing to the recording up until I started writing my newsletter to discuss the April launch of the track that this return to the moon was even happening.

​In concept, musically this is the B side of “In a Silent Way” in miniature — while lyrically we’re sort of in lunar wonderland that may owe a bit to post-pandemic anxieties.
 

Radio Silence Mode

Lyrics
I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode
I’ve been on the side where no answer was received
I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed

Annie drives around town in her little red mini
She always seems to be running late
We’ve both got feelings for someone else
That we’re hoping they’ll reciprocate

We can be each other’s back ups she says
For Valentine’s Day dates
We’ll just be friends and she’ll coach me
On how the dating game should be played

But despite the fact we’d formed this alliance
As time has passed by
All I hear from her is radio silence

I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode
I’ve been on the side where no answer was received
I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed

Gabrielle sent me a photo of her wrists
Saying it was so much harder than she thought
I spent what felt like forever
Trying to reach her hometown’s 9-1-1

I’d already sent her back to her parents
After I found her collapsed on my hallway floor
Her alcoholism, her depression --
I couldn’t continue being her sole support

The last time we talked, I had to hang up
I’m so low; it’s for the best
That all she hears from me is radio silence

There are times when I don’t reply –
And I don’t even know why
Maybe I didn’t want to talk with anyone at the time
Or maybe I didn’t have anything to say
Sometimes I wonder if my messages
Are getting lost out in the ether
Then there are times where it feels like
We just can’t communicate

When we first turned our eyes inward
We could not comprehend what we saw
So we told ourselves stories
And from these stories we created gods

In our infancy, when we were still subject
To the power and the whims of the elements
Our gods were capricious and vengeful
Constantly at war and malevolent

But now we know how to forge high strength alloys
We’ve expelled the dark with the electric light
We’ve purged the great plains of the buffalo
Dammed the mighty rivers and mastered flight

We dominate every biome and continent
Our population grows without providence
We endlessly manipulate of our environment
Our God is all knowing and omnipotent

But whether we’re bent in prayer, devout and pious
Or sending signals out to the stars
All we deserve is radio silence

I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode
I’ve been on the side where no answer was received
I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed
Credits
​vocals: E.G. Phillips
electric guitar: Xifer Fortier
keys: Kevin Seal
electric bass: Liam Craddock
drums: Chris McGrew

recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C) in San Francisco
​
mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com

produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal

cover photo by Michael Nuzzo

written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)
Notes
A blend of gritty jazz-rock and lyrics that morph from intimate diary entries to a monologue that is part history, part modern mythology, part sermon, and part manifesto. Angular guitars duel and dissolve into atmospheric textures, while the vocals—processed to feel like a transmission half-caught between frequencies—underscore the song’s central tension: reaching out, pulling away, and all the emotional static in between.​
 

Tahti, Make Me a Latte

Lyrics:
Tahti, make me a latte
Get me one of them pistachio croissants
Do you know why I keep coming around?
Do you know what it is I want?

I'd be lost out in these woods
Lost not for satellites overhead
But I feel lost all the same
Cause I'll never be in orbit of your bed

Your customers are talking about
Visits to Buenos Aires and Lisbon
Those are all places I've also been
But they were also only fly by missions

Out on the surface of Pluto
You can see the shape of a heart
I saw the same when I first saw you
But now I’m gonna have to depart
Tahti, make me a latte
​
Get me one of them pistachio croissants
Do you know why I keep coming around?
Do you know what it is I want?
Do you know what it is I want?
Do you know what it is I want?
Credits:
vocals: E.G. Phillips
trumpet: Lucas Davis
acoustic guitar: Xifer Fortier
percussion: Chris McGrew

recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco

mixed by Chris McGrew
mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com

produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal
​
written by E.G. Phillips
© 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP)