The album is about a boy going through a time of mental struggle. He (never named), like many teenage boys, is struggling to realize the difficult truths of the world, and in doing so he writes this album, A Boy and a Basement. The boy who “wrote the album” is a fictional character created as a stock teenage boy.

The album the boy writes is a reflection of how he reacts to the world. It is also somewhat autobiographical for the boy, and the album follows the timeline of the boy’s life. After hearing his parents fighting, the boy writes the first few songs of the album, which hyperbolizes the fighting into divorce, child abuse, and ignorance. The boy also realizes the unlikelihood of accomplishing his dreams, and writes “dreams.” These first five songs cover the boy’s life from childhood to adolescence. The album transitions during the song “A Cold, Windy Afternoon,” when the boy becomes trapped in a basement, although this never happened. The basement is a symbol of confusion and isolation. In his basement, the boy, with nothing else to do, writes the rest of the album, and these songs show the mental struggle the boy has, as he writes songs about a girl obsessed with the past (Orchid Creek Cemetery), a boy who cannot get over his fear to ask a girl out (Michael), and a song in which the boy questions his religious faith (You Alone Have The Power), among others. Finally, at the end of the cd, the boy reaches an “Epiphany” and overcomes his fear of the world, realizing that he “lives life for the good” even if “nothing matters.”

My best songwriting and instrumentation as of 2012. My folkiest album.