On The Love Language’s most recent tour opening for Teenage Fanclub, we played for lots of fresh ears, many of whom came to the merch table after the show and asked, “If you had to pick one, which of your albums is your favorite?” That’s a very tough question, like trying to pick a favorite child. While it’s hard to call it “best,” it’s impossible to deny that our self-titled record is and will always be the most sentimental to me. It’s where it all started. A collection of “demos” posted every couple months on Myspace between 2007 and 2008 until we were signed to our first label, Portland, Oregon’s Bladen County Records, who compiled them all as a full LP in 2009. The songs came effortlessly, and each one was recorded by a mobile multitrack recorder in various rooms (storage spaces, the back office of a record store, living rooms) throughout North Carolina literal hours after it was conceived. There’s a freshness and vitality to these songs that I hope, but don’t expect, to recapture again. It’s the sound of a songwriter discovering their voice in real time. The record has been out of print on vinyl for a few years now, and I’m excited to reissue it with some slight updates to the original packaging with my friends at Merge Records!

—Stuart McLamb, March 2019