In January of 2022, I released The Archives 2002-2018. At that time, I didn’t intend for there to be a second volume, but as I dug deeper into the long-forgotten recesses of my hard drive I managed to find loads more music that I decided would be good to compile into another album.

The Archives Vol.2 is a collection of 59 tracks I composed between the years 2003 and 2018. As with the last archives album, this includes demos, early sketches, experiments, never-before-released tracks, early or alternate versions of previously released material, and other rare or obscure pieces. These tracks are in various states of completion and polish, but as it's meant to be an archival record of how my composing and production skills have evolved over time, I've left each track almost entirely unaltered from its original state. Please forgive the amateur mixing and mastering on some of the earlier tracks (I'm looking at you "Islands_2005").

At the end of each track name, I've included the year in which I composed the piece. Some of these are just my best estimate, but all should be within a year or so of the actual date. You can calculate from there how old I was when the piece was written and how many years into my life as a self-taught composer I was using the following data:

Born: 1984
First instrument (guitar): 2000 or 2001
First DAW and MIDI controller: 2003

As I stated last year, I'm still on an indefinite hiatus from composing and arranging. But I hope you enjoy yet another glimpse into my musical past that has remained largely unheard until now. Thank you again for all the love and support you've shown me through the years.

All music composed, mixed, mastered, programmed, and performed by Chris Porter.

Cover photo and design by Chris Porter