Melancholia is a feeling I’ve often sought to evoke in the music I make. This is a creative goal that stems from when I was a child and my grandmother would often tell me that, “Music should make you feel something. That chill you feel up your spine, that's music.” It’s an emotion I feel acutely now when thinking of the ocean and something I tried to capture for the project. The stories featured in this book — human trafficking, sea slavery, environmental abuses — are extremely sensitive and fragile. Ian reveals the sense of uncertainty and thalassophobia lurking beneath sea level through these stories, highlighting this melancholic and dangerous beauty that is The Outlaw Ocean.

At the same time, there’s a spark of hope found in the revelation of these stories and in the discussion that is begun as a result of the book and the music of the project. Ian wanted to shed light on these topics, and he did, thus bringing attention to the subject en masse and providing a chance for change. The ocean has always represented a place of discovery and opportunity for me as an artist. I see now through reading The Outlaw Ocean that this is not a reality experienced by many of the people featured in the book. I hope listeners and readers alike will also come to this realization, and I hope my music will spur them to take action to enact better regulation.

Zachary Gray