How does one give form to what can’t be seen? Nike does it at the Air Lab during Milan Design Week, with a helping hand from Dropcity, a new player in the city’s architecture and design scene, set inside a ~40,000 m² labyrinth of former railway tunnels under Milan’s central station. The lucky few who got in saw it as a one-week-only glimpse into a shared experiment. But don’t get too sentimental about the “pop-up” label, it’s already halfway to permanence. Air Lab is staying put at Dropcity once their doors officially open this fall.
Courtesy of Nike
Of course, the whole thing is based on Nike’s long-standing relationship with… well, air. Think nearly 100 never-before-seen prototypes. Air Archives tracing Frank Rudy’s early experiments. The development of Air Liquid Max, FlyWeb, Radical AirFlow, Therma-FIT Air Milano. Eight tool stations exploring air as a design medium, visualizing (air as evidence), forming (air as shape), deforming (air as transformation), pumping (air as expansion), suctioning (air as void), calibrating (air as impulse), cooling (air as subtraction) and blasting (air as force). The Air Library, a lounge that turns a massive bubble into something you can sit on. Workshops that somehow manage to challenge the power of air too, through robotics, music, even breathing.
Courtesy of Nike
What once lived inside the sole is now moving across the body, with Nike using air in garments that inflate, deflate, and adjust in real time. Take it from Radical AirFlow, a long-sleeve piece with small, cyclone-like cutouts that pushes air across the skin, turning it into a wearable cooling system. It’s tested under heat in a lab setup where athletes run in place while sensors quietly measure how hot they get. And it’s already picked up praise from athletes who crossed the finish line first wearing it, while everyone else in the background is still in short sleeves.
Courtesy of Nike
Who would’ve thought the invisible would be taken this far? “Nike has always had an experimental, hands-on culture of making, so on our first visit to Dropcity a year ago, it immediately felt both familiar and energizing,” says Golnaz Armin, VP, Design Studio Excellence. “Prototyping is a daily practice — an instinct to make, test and refine in real time, where ideas are meant to be worn, experienced and challenged through doing. As much as we embrace the latest digital capabilities, the craft of creating physical product through an iterative process remains essential.”
Figma stands as the benchmark for digital design. From creating user interfaces to collaborative design systems, it offers everything designers and developers need. While it is essentially a standard in today’s digital market, users often search for Figma alternatives at some point. The need to find other options stems from differences in workflow preferences, performance, pricing, and related factors. Different teams and projects need different strengths from a tool. Truth be told, there is no single perfect design tool anymore. That is why creators continuously search for the right tool for every stage of the creative process.
With this in mind, check out some of the topalternatives to Figma that perfectly cater to every modern creative’s needs.
Best Figma Alternatives in 2026
Simfa (Best for AI-Powered Ideation)
Simfa operates at a different layer of the creative process, and that is what makes it stand out. This toolkit helps creators accelerate the early stages of their projects. More specifically, it is built to make content creation much faster before designers move into structured design tools. Simfa enables automated content generation and instant creative iteration. By employing AI-powered creativity, this tool also positions itself as an app that reduces manual work and speeds up production. So, while options such as Figma help users build, Simfa helps them imagine faster.
Pricing
Free Access
Starter Package – $15 per month
Plus Package – $23 a month
Simfa+ Package – $99 per month
Enterprise Package – Customizable
Sketch
In the digital landscape of Figma alternatives, Sketch is one of the few native macOS applications. It is a toolkit specifically made for designers. From designing and prototyping to collaboration, this app helps designers stay focused on their work. However, the app being native to the Apple ecosystem may impose limitations.
Pricing
Free Trial
Standard Package – €13 a month
Professional Package – €22 per month
Enterprise Package – €44 a month
Private Cloud Package – Customizable
Flowstep
Flowstep is not a direct replacement for Figma, but it is tailored for the ideation phase. Its Imagination Algorithm enables creators to translate ideas into editable user interfaces. When refining the output, Flowstep allows users to enhance visuals using prompts or manual editing. However, users looking for something that addresses multiple content types beyond UI may find its scope more specialized.
Pricing
Free Access
Starter Package – $15 per month
Enterprise Package – Customizable
Lunacy
One Figma alternative that generally works as a free option is Lunacy. With innovative features, built-in graphics, and AI-driven tools, this design platform allows better efficiency. Such an offering is useful for teams that need to save hours of work to meet deadlines, finish projects, or streamline processes. Despite its accessibility, its nature remains close to traditional design tools.
Free Access
Pro Package – $14.98 a month
Enterprise Package – Customizable
Framer
Framer focuses on a different aspect of design. Instead of being the usual design tool, it functions as a design-to-site platform. In particular, it enables designers to produce site layouts and other visual components quickly using AI. To make them more responsive, Framer has additional tools for adding animations, interactions, and effects. It even has a built-in CMS and on-page collaboration features.
Free Access
Basic Package – $15 per month
Pro Package – $45 a month
Scale Package – $100 per month
Enterprise Package – Customizable
Final Notes
No one can argue that Figma is no longer a strong choice for interface design and collaborativeworkflows. Because it certainly still is. So why change something that works just fine? Well, let us admit it — designers do not just need to execute layouts; they also need to generate and refine ideas at speed to meet today’s demands. And that is where Figma alternatives matter. Not to imitate Figma, but to help with the steps before using it.
Given modern workflows, one tool from the list above worth considering is Simfa. It does not compete with Figma but focuses on accelerating the earliest and often slowest part of the design process — ideation. By using AI to redefine early-stage design thinking, Simfa enables creators to generate design ideas and polish visuals instantly and more efficiently. It is clearly a strong starting point before turning to traditional design tools like Figma.
There are 22 characters to unlock in Vampire Crawlers, and you can unlock them all by completing specific in-game objectives like progressing through areas, defeating bosses or completing hidden challenges. Vampire Crawlers is a first-person dungeon-crawling roguelike where each run has you using cards, managing resources, and adapting your deck as you push through encounters. You can unlock characters with different starting decks and unique effects, which can change how your deck plays from run to run. Here’s every character in Vampire Crawlers and how you can unlock each one.
Vampire Crawlers: How To Find and Unlock Every Character
As touched on earlier, Vampire Crawlersfeatures 22 unlockable characters, and to unlock each one, you’ll need to complete specific in-game objectives like defeating bosses, reaching milestones, and completing hidden objectives. Below is the full list of every character in the game, along with their effects, how to unlock them, and the gold required once they appear at the Gorton Bell Inn:
Antonio Belpaese is unlocked automatically during the tutorial. He adds 3 Armor when played, and red cards increase damage by 10%. There is no gold cost for unlocking him.
Imelda Belpaese becomes available after completing a run in Mad Forest, the first area. She adds 15 XP when played, and yellow cards grant +1 XP Growth. She costs 10 gold.
Pasqualina Belpaese requires you to reach Level 20 in Inlaid Library while playing as Imelda. She adds 10 Area, and purple cards increase Hand by 1. She costs 110 gold.
Gennaro Belpaese is unlocked by defeating the Mantichana in Mad Forest. He adds 2 Amount, and red cards deal 60 damage. He costs 700 gold.
Arca Ladonna unlocks after playing Fire Wand cards 100 times. She adds 3 Mana, and purple cards grant +1 Mana. She costs 420 gold.
Poe Ratcho becomes available after playing Garlic cards 25 times. He adds 20 Area, and blue cards draw 1 card. He costs 360 gold.
Dommario unlocks by collecting 5,000 coins. He grants +2 Duration, and purple cards deal 40 damage. He costs 1,120 gold.
Lama Ladonna requires completing a dungeon with at least 10% Curse. She increases damage by 50%, and blue cards increase damage by 15%. She costs 1,300 gold.
Bianca Ramba is unlocked by defeating the Milk Elemental in Dairy Plant. She adds 3 Amount, and purple cards grant +1 Amount. She costs 1,330 gold.
Porta unlocks after playing Lightning Ring cards 100 times. He adds 25 Area, and red cards grant +1 Mana. He costs 1,000 gold.
Mortaccio is unlocked by defeating 444 Skeletons in Mad Forest. He adds 2 Amount, and blue cards grant +1 Amount. He costs 600 gold.
Pugnala Provola requires finding the coffin in Berserk Wood and defeating its guardians. She increases damage by 20%, and yellow cards draw 1 card. She costs 1,440 gold.
Yatta Cavallo unlocks after defeating 250 Lion Heads in Inlaid Library. He adds 2 Amount, and yellow cards grant +1 Amount. He costs 600 gold.
Giovanna Grana is unlocked by finding the coffin in Library Sanctum. She adds 20 Luck, and purple cards draw 1 card. She costs 1,360 gold.
Krochi Freetto requires defeating 6,666 enemies in total. He adds 10 Revival, and Wild W cards grant +5 Revival. He costs 3,000 gold.
Suor Clerici unlocks by recovering a total of 1,000 HP. She heals 3 when played, and blue cards heal 1 after encounters. She costs 1,760 gold.
O’Sole Meeo is unlocked by defeating 50 Dragon Shrimps in Gallo Tower. He adds 3 Amount, and red cards grant +5 Luck. He costs 2,400 gold.
Concetta Caciotta unlocks by finding the coffin in Gallo Tower. She adds 10 Area, and red cards grant +5 Area. She costs 1,920 gold.
Iguana Gallo Valletto is unlocked by defeating Gallo in Gallo Tower. He increases coin gain by 25%, and Wild W cards increase coin gain by another 10%. He costs 4,800 gold.
Christine Davian unlocks after finding and playing the Pentagram card, which becomes available at Level 35 in any run. She reduces the Mana cost of the next card by 1, and purple cards prevent one enemy attack. She costs 2,800 gold.
Poppea is unlocked by finding the coffin in Milk Factory. She increases Hand by 1, and yellow cards grant +1 Duration. She costs 2,200 gold.
MissingN0 is unlocked by defeating Red Death. He adds 4 Armor, and red cards draw 2 cards. He costs 6,666 gold.
That’s about every character in Vampire Crawlers and how you can unlock each one. For more gaming news and guides, be sure to check out our gaming page!
New drama The Testaments, available on Disney+ in the UK, has big shoes to fill. After all, it follows acclaimed series The Handmaid’s Tale, which ran for six seasons and won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.
The Testaments serves as a sequel, switching the focus on a new generation of Gilead women a few years after the original wrapped up. So far, reviews have been mostly positive, and the audience seem into it, too. Does that mean we can expect a second season in the near future?
The Testaments Season 2 Release Date
At the time of writing, there’s no official news about a potential The Testaments season 2. That said, all signs point to the narrative unfolding across multiple seasons.
Executive producer Warren Littlefield told The Hollywood Reporter that the behind-the-scenes team would need at least three seasons to tell the story, and that the writers room for the second one is already in progress.
In other words, a renewal is likely around the corner. If all goes well, new episodes could arrive in 2027.
The Testaments Cast
Chase Infiniti as Agnes MacKenzie
Lucy Halliday as Daisy
Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia
Mabel Li as Aunt Vidala
Brad Alexander as Garth Chapin
Isolde Ardies as Huldah
Rowan Blanchard as Shunammite
Mattea Conforti as Becka Grove
Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne
What Is The Testaments About?
Based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, The Testaments returns to explore the dystopian world of Gilead through a new lens.
The story revolves around three women whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. Fans of the original are already familiar with Aunt Lydia, once a strict enforcer of Gilead’s rules. Now, she is operating with more ambiguity, and possibly working against the system from within.
We also follow Agnes, a young girl raised inside Gilead’s elite class and groomed to become a Commander’s wife. Finally, there’s Daisy, another teenager raised in Canada who works as an undercover Mayday operative.
In short, the series delves into how a new generation begins to challenge the regime. While the world is still bleak, this spinoff is more about awakening and rebellion – themes that will continue to take centre stage in a potential The Testaments season 2.
“What I love is how specific our cast has become in who they are and how they interpret this world, so that awakening is coming at different times in our narrative, and it will be manifested in all different ways based on their alliances, their personalities, how they respond. But awakening we will have. And I think the fun is, how do these young women respond? How do they band together and become just as fearsome as Gilead is?” Warren Littlefield revealed in the THR interview.
The first season of The Testaments is ongoing, with episodes landing weekly on Disney+ until late May.
Are There Other Shows Like The Testaments?
If you like The Testaments, similar shows include Watchmen, Pluribus, 3%, The Man in the High Castle, and The Leftovers.
The experiences of going to a theater performance and digital entertainment might feel quite different from one another but online worlds have started to become more theatrical over time. The main objectives of theater performances is to engage with the audience, take them on an emotional journey and provide an experience that they remember long after they leave the venue.
As digital entertainment has evolved with more capabilities, many of the enhancements have been focused around the same objectives that have attracted people to performing arts theaters and movie theaters for many years. Capturing the attention of the audience and maintaining that attention for a long period is the main goal across both forms of entertainment and digital developers use theatrical elements to achieve this.
These are some of the ways that the online world incorporates theatrical features:
Performative Streamers
Some of the most successful streamers enhance their content through being performative and providing the audience with a show. Many streamers use humor, some like to shock the audience and they narrate throughout their stream, creating a storyline. Streamers with fun personalities are able to build up large numbers of viewers, captivating them with constant commentary.
Online Games Use Strong Storylines
Popular video games often use immersive storylines that build a stronger connection with characters. Games like The Last of Us replicate the storyline of the drama series, with developers knowing that the storyline has been successful at captivating an audience.
Using emotional storytelling draws a player deeper into the game and increases emotional investment in the game. Players take on roles, in a similar way to an actor in a movie or stage performance, making decisions that shape the outcome.
Online casino games have also incorporated theatrical elements, such as having a live dealer playing their role in card games and making the experience feel more like stepping into a real casino. VR technology has also helped casino game developers to bring players into a 3D world, where they are able to walk around the casino and interact with people and place chips on tables.
Lots of the most popular casino games are developed around storylines, which you can see in the game choices here on Tikal Casino. Themed slots have mini storylines like adventure or mythology and progression systems also use storytelling to represent unlocking new stages or bonuses.
Cinematic Game Design
Online games also take design inspiration from the movie industry, using sounds and lighting to evoke psychological reactions. Game design has become so sophisticated that players feel like they are playing within movie scenes, with directed camera angles and seamless transitions between the story and gameplay. Playing video games can feel like a cinematic experience rather than feeling detached from what is happening on the screen.
The setting design often uses locations that are commonly used in movies, with realistic, high-quality sounds and graphics that create an immersive world.
Social Media Content is More Performative
Over the last decade, social media has become increasingly popular, with TikTok having emerged as the platform with the highest average engagement rate. Videos with high viewing figures often have a character performing within a storyline, with advanced video editing tools, filters and sounds used to create high-quality content with theatrical elements.
Content design has moved away from static graphics and now content is meticulously planned, often scripted and using clear story arcs like a before and after or problem solving storylines. Content creators think more about the visuals and how they can gain the attention of the audience with location choices and through their own performance.
Content creators analyze what type of content has been most successful before when they consider creating new content, using audience feedback to ensure that the content is audience-focused. In a way, this is similar to rehearsing for live shows, working out where things can be improved and then adjusting content along the way.
Algorithms Push Emotive Content
Social media algorithms push content to users based on what type of emotional experiences they have enjoyed before. If users like to watch content that involves shock or a specific style of storyline, they will receive more of this content through the algorithm. Content that is more dramatic will often receive the most interaction, so these types of content styles are prioritized through the algorithms.
The online world has become increasingly theatrical, taking the audience on emotional journeys through more immersive storylines and authentic characters. From streaming and social media video content creation to enhanced set design in live dealer card games, theatrical elements have delivered many enhancements to online worlds.
Jenny Gillespie Mason, the singer-songwriter behind projects including Sis and the Lower Wisdom, has announced a new album. In the Safety of the Light is set for release on June 12 via Native Cat Recordings. Listen to the shimmering lead single ‘Rungs of Love’ below.
Commenting on the new track, Mason said in a press release: “’Rungs of Love’ was inspired by my guru Mother Mirra Alfassa’s descriptions of the rungs of love in a relationship – from selfish love that cares a lot about what you get back, to a love that gives without wanting anything back, to a divine love that serves only God. The song moves between the verses and the chorus from depicting a romantic human relationship, its successes and bumps, to meditating on the relationship I want to have with God.”
Produced by Noah Georgeson (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Bert Jansch, Vashti Bunyan), the record was laid down at a private studio in Los Angeles. It finds Mason returning to the kind of acoustic folk music she first began writing as a teenager. “In the Safety of the Light is a project that was building in me for quite a few years, but it took meeting Noah Georgeson for it to reach its fulfillment,” Mason reflected. “Working with someone so kind, calm and creative was what was needed for these songs to become fully formed in their true essence. I hadn’t written strictly on an acoustic guitar for many years, and I felt a return to my original inspiration that led me to becoming a musician as a young teenager – just me and a guitar.”
“Songwise, there is material in the album about trying to live as an aspiring yogi while also trying to be a mother and a wife inside of a weird civilization,” she continued. “Most of the lyrics are very simple and taken from my journals; I didn’t really do much adornment of them, as I wanted the communication to be straightforward and accessible despite the more spiritual leaning subject matter.”
1. Horizontal
2. I Thought I Was Surrendered
3. Medicine of Light
4. Rungs of Love
5. Wonder of the Circle
6. Perseus
7. The Bliss
8. Woman from Nottingham
Prime Video’s animated superhero series Invincible keeps going strong. The show, which has been showered with both critical acclaim and audience enthusiasm ever since it premiered, just wrapped up its fourth season. The ending wasn’t just explosive, but it left a lot of open threads.
Question is: will fans have a chance to find out what happens next? Here’s everything we know about Invincible season 5 so far.
Invincible Season 5 Release Date
Invincible has already been renewed, so there’s at least one additional installment on the horizon.
That said, the show is based on the comic book series of the same name, and there’s a lot of original material left to adapt. As a result, Invincible could easily go on for years.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, there’s a no official premiere date for season 5 yet. Since production seems to be on schedule, we expect new episodes to arrive in early 2027.
Invincible Cast
Steven Yeun as Markus “Mark” Grayson / Invincible
Sandra Oh as Deborah “Debbie” Grayson
K. Simmons as Nowl-Ahn / Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man
Gillian Jacobs as Samantha Eve Wilkins / Atom Eve / Phase One
Zazie Beetz as Amber Justine Bennett
Brandon Scott Jones as William Francis Clockwell
Christian Convery as Oliver Grayson / Kid Omni-Man
What Could Happen in Invincible Season 5?
Invincible is an adult animated series revolving around Mark Grayson, son of Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on Earth. When Mark develops powers of his own, he takes on the identity of Invincible. However, he quickly learns that being a hero is far more violent and morally messy than expected.
Initially a superhero coming-of-age story, the show evolves into something much darker. Mark is forced to confront the truth about his father’s alien race, the Viltrumites, and Earth becomes a battleground for cosmic-scale conflicts.
On top of that, every victory comes with consequences the characters are forced to grapple with, making Invincible darker than your average superhero fare. There’s also plenty of often shocking violence, while the animation remains one of the show’s strong suits.
The fourth season raises the stakes to a full interplanetary conflict. By the time the finale rolls around, Viltrumites secretly integrate into human society, and there’s a virus that could potentially wipe out everyone with Viltrumite DNA, Mark included.
Invincible season 5 will likely pick off from there. Mark’s decision to let Viltrumites infiltrate Earth will probably haunt him moving forward, and there are several other subplots the series is yet to resolve. Thankfully, it looks like the wait between installments won’t be long this time around.
Are There Other Shows Like Invincible?
If you like Invincible, shows with similar vibes include The Boys, Arcane, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, The Umbrella Academy, and Harley Quinn.
Nedra Talley Ross, a founding member of the 1960s pop group the Ronettes, has died. The band’s official social media accounts confirmed the news on Sunday, April 26. “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nedra Talley Ross’ passing,” the post read. She was a light to those who knew and loved her.” Ross was 80 years old.
Talley Ross was the last surviving member of the Ronnettes, which she formed with her cousins, sisters Estelle Bennett and Ronnie Spector. She began performing covers with them as a teenager, earning a residency at a local club as well as a record deal, though early singles failed to find success. In 1963, they auditioned for producer Phil Spector, who helped make the group’s breakthrough single, ‘Be My Baby’, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. They released just one album, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, but landed more hits like ‘Baby I Love You’, ‘Do I Love You’, and ‘Walking in the Rain’. They disbanded in 1967, having just supported the Beatles on their final US tour.
“I hated the ‘dog-eat-dog’ side of show-business,” Talley Ross once said. “I hated pushing for the next record and the feeling of failure if we didn’t get it. There was a continual demand on us to produce that I thought was unfair. My personality didn’t like that.” She also said she left the band out of a desire to make Christian music, and put out her first contemporary Christian record, Full Circle, in 1978. She was married to Scott Ross, a DJ and television personality, from 1967 until his death in 2023.
Ross was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Ronettes in 2007. Though she had previously turned down being part of a short-lived 1973 Ronettes reunion, she performed with Ronnie Spector at the induction ceremony.
“As a founding member of The Ronettes, along with her beloved cousins Ronnie and Estelle, Nedra’s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music,” the social media statement continued. “Her contribution to the group’s story and their defining influence will live forever.”
Angelo De Augustine was used to making music on his own. Some may have initially become aware of him around the release of A Beginner’s Mind, his 2021 collaborative album with Asthmatic Kitty label mate Sufjan Stevens, but the singer-songwriter has largely kept the writing and recording of his solo albums a solitary process; his studio is literally called A Secret Place. His new album, Angel in Plainclothes, the follow-up to Toil and Trouble, was once again written, recorded, arranged, produced, and mixed by De Augustine. But he invited outside contributors for the first time in years – including strings arranger Oliver Hill, harpist Leng Bian, Tomb producer Thomas Bartlett, and his mother, Wendy Fraser – in part because the physical burden of taking on every part was overwhelming. The looming backstory of the album is that, after being hospitalized with an undiagnosed illness in early 2022, De Augustine had to relearn how to walk, talk, see, hear, play music, and sing again. But though at times emotionally devastating, it is no document of suffering; it’s unguarded and mystical in its intimacy, shimmering with the kindness of those who have helped him survive. “Sometimes life is too much, you know,” De Augustine told me in 2023. Angel in Plainclothes captures an artist determined to live it.
We caught up with Angelo De Augustine to talk about his healing journey, Kauai, swimming, and other inspirations behind his new album, Angel in Plainclothes.
Healing journey
Revisiting our conversation around Toil and Trouble, you’d said you had albums’ worth of songs that didn’t make it onto that record. I’m curious if there were pre-2022 songs that appear on Angel in Plainclothes, or if they were all written in the period after you were hospitalized.
I wrote this record fairly quickly, if you were to compare it to the last one. It took me about a year to write and record it and arrange it from start to finish, and then mix it. It took me about a year. Toil and Trouble is three years, I think. But these all came probably in 2024, and then I finished the record in 2025.
Was it because it all felt like they were coming from the same place?
Yeah, they were coming from a similar place. I don’t really know why certain songs fit together and why others don’t, and maybe they could fit together. Maybe all you have to do is just say that they do fit together. I’ve got lots of songs that have never come out. Maybe I’ll do a B-sides thing or whatever, but I’d never really done that before. My experience writing is that sometimes you’ll even write songs in the same period of time, but they don’t feel like they fit either, so it’s about finding the ones that feel like they fit together. That’s a process that’s difficult to… talk about, because I don’t really know why it is. Maybe it’s more of an instinctual feeling.
Did your journey of relearning how to see, talk, hear, and play music shift your instincts at all, or the way you were following your intuition?
Oh, that does make a lot of sense. For a long time, I felt like I couldn’t trust myself at all anymore, because I felt like I couldn’t trust my body or what was going on. It took a long time before I could play music again, and then after I could play music, to trust myself more again. It took me probably two years before I could really play music again. At first I couldn’t do it, and then it just felt weird for a long time to play the guitar, to do these things, because I was dealing with all this other stuff. I’ve been on this journey of healing for a while, and what I found with it is that the journey isn’t really linear, in what I normally thought of as linear: you get sick with a cold and you get better in a week. It definitely challenged my view of what’s normal. In that sense, it made it hard to trust anything anymore.
There was no conclusive evidence from doctors, nobody was able to tell me what was going on, nobody was able to help give me anything. So, I had to do a lot of my own research. What I think happened for me is that I was under a lot of stress for a long period of time, and what can happen to people sometimes is that when they are under a lot of stress for a long period of time, and they have a few things that happen that are really challenging at the same time – it’s rare for this to happen, but sometimes it can push someone over the edge of what their nervous system is capable of, and they call that the allostatic load. Basically, that’s how much we can tolerate in our nervous system. And then the nervous system usually calms back down. But sometimes when you go over that threshold, you go into a state of fight or flight, where the brain doesn’t recognize that it can go back to homeostasis, so it stays in that fight-or-flight loop. When that happens, it can cause manifestations of all kinds of physiological symptoms or sensations that don’t really make any sense. But really, what they found is that it’s just the brain creating these symptoms; they’re not a result of anything that’s wrong biologically.
In my journey, I’ve found a number of different ways to try to calm the nervous system. The more you calm it, the more the symptoms go away, and they don’t come back, because the brain goes back to homeostasis and doesn’t feel like it has to create these symptoms anymore. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and the more the brain understands that it’s safe – that you’re safe. But it’s a process of learning to trust again and being educated on how the brain works.
A lot of people don’t know this, but we’ve known since the 1970s that the brain is not fixed. The brain is neuroplastic, meaning it can change its structure and form and its neuronal pathways. That’s why you see a lot of people are able to fully recover from strokes and things like that, because the brain can actually change its structure and how it works. Just knowing that is interesting, especially with something like what I’ve been going through, which is obviously very different than anything that’s, like, diagnosable. What I’ve been dealing with is something that they don’t diagnose, because there’s no physiological cause. People have a lot of names for these things, but they don’t really mean anything. They’re all kind of the same: it just means dysregulated nervous system.
Hiring outside musicians
This record was written in spurts, because I wasn’t often feeling well enough to write a whole song and record it in a day like I used to do. A lot of these songs were written in spurts, and then with the recording, I wouldn’t labor over it that much. I would just try to get a take. I would just give myself an amount of time, and then try to get a take that felt emotional. It didn’t have to be perfect, necessarily, but it just had to have a feeling. At that time, I couldn’t do a lot of the things that I normally wanted to do. I couldn’t set up drums, I couldn’t move around a lot of things, because I was having trouble lifting heavy things. That’s why I wound up bringing a lot of other people in to take some of the heavy lifting, or take some of the burden off of some of the process.
I usually pretty much do everything myself for my records. It’s a self-contained thing that’s probably unusual. I think most people have a producer, they hire a band, they have somebody mix their record for them, and they have someone engineer it. I kind of do all of it. But because I needed some help with some of it, some of the physical aspects of making a record, I hired some people to play. There were a few people: there’s a lady that played harp on it, and my mom did a little on it, my friend Thomas Bartlett played on a couple, and my friend Jonathan Wilson played drums one song. It’s funny, because in the past, I just would never have allowed anybody, really, to play on my stuff. But because I was forced to, it was the only way I was going to get it done. But it wound up actually being a nice experience. I just let people play what they wanted to play. I didn’t micromanage anyone’s performances. What you’re hearing on the record is probably the first or second take that everybody did.
Maybe this is just a semantic thing, but does hiring outside musicians differ to you from the idea of collaboration as you’ve done it in the past?
Yeah, for me, the collaboration thing is a totally different thing. I know people use that word a lot now. But I don’t see hiring outside musicians as a true collaboration. For me, a true collaboration is writing a song with somebody. That’s something that I really never do, and only have done one time with a friend. When I’m hiring people, I feel it as an extension of the song, and they’re just playing whatever they felt at the moment. They’re not invested in the writing of the song, they’re more of a hired gun. And then they leave, and then I’m back to working on my own. Whereas when you’re having a true collaboration with somebody, you’re in the weeds together the whole time. It’s as much your song as it is theirs. At least the way I look at it, but I know people use that word really loosey-goosey these days, and everybody’s collaborating with everybody, and you’re not really sure to what extent people are actually involved.
Kauai
I went there before the record was finished. It felt like my first step towards getting better. It was a subtle shift, but I feel like a lot of times those subtle shifts are actually more profound than we take them for, because they can bring about greater change. When you even take a small step in a direction, I think it allows for greater change. For me, going there was important because it was the first time I had gone on a plane since everything happened to me in the hospital. I was going to a place that, as far as I know, is the most isolated landmass in the world. As you can imagine, it’s a scary thought for somebody in that position to go so far away from home, and you’re not close to hospitals and things like that. But it showed me that I could do it, and it showed my brain that I could do it. And that’s really what this whole thing is about, is showing my brain that I can do anything, and it doesn’t need to freak out.
That was a great thing for me to do, not only because of that, but just because it’s such a beautiful place. It feels like going to heaven or something, it feels like a paradise. That island in particular feels like it’s not on Earth. They call it the Garden Island for a reason. It’s an otherworldly kind of place. I used to go snorkeling every day and see all kinds of beautiful fish. It was good for me to get out of where I was here, and to go there, have a change of scenery, and also a little bit of hope that I can do these things.
You mentioned it wasn’t easy to leave home at the time, but there’s also a deep longing for home, too, on the record. I wonder if you had to reconcile those two things, the need for home and a kind of escape, even if it was mentally going somewhere else.
They do kind of clash with each other. But it was so hard to find home. For so long, I felt like I wasn’t the same person. I felt like I was a different person; in fact, I didn’t even feel like a person. What I went through was so strange, and anybody who I told, they either didn’t believe me, or they just thought, “Well, that’s crazy, that doesn’t even make sense.” For a while, I was just this ghost walking around. I was looking at everybody else living their life; I was just stuck in my house. I suffered a great deal of suffering for a long time. And my version of home is probably most people’s version, which is just feeling like yourself. Not really a place; it’s just feeling like you’re home within yourself. I’m still on that journey of trying to find myself again.
I get glimpses of it. I get more and more glimpses of it, and it’s really nice to feel that, even for a little while. They’re like, “Oh yeah, there I am.” But it’s a journey, for sure. My goal is to find me again, and that’s a lot of what the record is, you’re right: escaping, but also finding yourself. I don’t know if it’s the same thing or if it’s different. I’m not really sure. I think I’ll probably find out as time goes on.
Mary Medallion
The title Angel in Plainclothes, when I think about it, I think about when people go through really horrible things, they usually find something that is helpful for them, whether it’s a symbol or a person. But there’s usually some sort of entity or idea that comes into people’s lives. To me, that’s what an angel in plain clothes is. For me, the Virgin Mary showed up a lot, and the symbol of the Virgin Mary. There happened to be one near my house that I would go to a lot, just to sit by, because I felt some kind of connection or comfort with the idea of this motherly figure. Some feeling of being cared for by that symbol. Now I always wear a gold medallion of the Virgin Mary on a chain, because it makes me feel more protected. It’s a symbol that I think is all over the album. There’s lots of lyrics that reference Mary on the album.
I wound up reading a lot about her after I felt a connection. Mary is the mother of all mothers. I grew up with a single mother, and so mothers are really important to me. I didn’t have a father figure around, so mothers are a big deal to me. But Mary’s also symbolized by the red rose, so there’s a lot of that in the record, too. I felt like I owed it to give some sort of thanks.
It’s funny, when you go through something so horrible, certain people in my life showed up really horribly, and certain people showed up really amazing and said the exact right thing that you need to hear. And I feel like it’s just a manifestation of the goodness in the world coming through. Sometimes the people you least expect say the things that are the most helpful.
Could you share one thing?
I think the thing that was so helpful for me, that kept me alive and kept me going, was just that I had a few people tell me, “You’re gonna be okay, it’s all gonna be okay. This isn’t forever. You’re gonna heal, and you’re gonna be happy. It may be really horrible right now, but ultimately, things are gonna work out good.” That was really helpful to hear when it feels like you’re under so much uncertainty. I had people in my family tell me that, I had some friends tell me that, and that’s what I would tell somebody in a position where they feel they’re going through something really hard, and they feel afraid or overwhelmed. I would probably just tell them that everything’s gonna be okay, because I believe that now. I believe that, ultimately, good things are gonna happen in our lives. We just don’t know when it resolves and it becomes good, but ultimately, I think there’s a plan for our lives that will end up being good.
Your mother, Wendy Fraser, is credited as a background vocalist and percussionist on the record. I’d love for you to maybe tell me more about working with her on the record, or her life in music, or any conversations you had while making the album and making the album.
Yeah she did contribute some background vocals on the record, and then she did some percussion. I feel like mostly, though – I had to go back and live with her, because I couldn’t do anything for a long time. I was really not able to take care of myself, and she’s a big reason why I’m alive and okay, so I owe everything to her. I feel like her contribution to the record is much more than just what he played. It’s more that she took care of me when I wasn’t doing well. If it wasn’t for that, this record wouldn’t even exist. She doesn’t really do music that much anymore, so whenever I ask her to do something, I think she really likes to play or sing on things. It’s nice to have a project she could play on. I think it brings her joy to do that.
Swimming
You mentioned snorkeling, but swimming was another big part of your recovery, specifically in the form of going to your local spa.
That was the first thing that really made a difference for me. I joined this spa near my house, I’m so lucky that it exists. It came about at a time where I really needed it. There’s a lot of different swimming pools and saunas there, and you can go pretty much whenever you want, so I pretty much went most every day for a number of years. I still go sometimes. It was the first realization that this must be nervous system related, that when I went in the water, my symptoms would go away, because I was calm in the water, I felt safe, after not feeling safe for a long time. Water has always been relaxing for me, and discovering that was a really big help in slowly bringing my nervous system back to being in homeostasis again.
Do you feel a part of you had forgotten it was a safe place, or was it a surprise to you that it had this effect?
I was just so grateful that it gave me some relief. I was in a period of such intense desperation for so long that I was just so grateful it gave me some relief, even for a while, because usually it would come back when I got out. It was nice to have something that had some consistency.
Brain retraining
I joined a program which people can join. Lots of people around the world have dealt with similar things to what I went through, things that people haven’t been able to explain, or doctors haven’t been able to really help with. There are a few of these programs that have popped up in the last number of years, because the theory and the programs have gotten a lot more exposure, because they actually work for people. There’s a lot of research that has come out in the last probably five years, where it’s becoming a little more of a mainstream thing. People are learning more about the nervous system, and how this is actual science instead of just some weird thing where people are trying to take people’s money. That’s the worst, when people prey on people that are desperate.
At least the one I went to is not that way. It’s not expensive. It’s not something that you have to do with them. You don’t have to buy their pills, they don’t make pills. It’s more of a practice that you learn, tools that you learn. It would be hard for me to summarize exactly what you do in the program, but if I were to have to summarize it, you’re essentially telling the brain that it’s safe. You do this through acting out motions, through visualization. They use a lot of different modalities in it, but it’s all essentially about retraining your brain, because you’re retraining those neural pathways that got off whack, bringing them back to where they were. A good analogy is a farmer plants a crop of vegetables, and you’re just allowing them to go fowl, and then you’re raking new soil over them, and you’re creating ways for things to grow.
How did retraining the neural pathways relate to music? Did it affect that kind of muscle memory at all, or was it separate from music entirely?
It’s different, because music to me is something I can’t really define. It’s more of a spiritual thing, or a mystery. thing. It doesn’t really have to do so much with thinking a lot about it. Obviously you think about it, but I feel it more as a manifestation of something much greater than me, so I don’t really view it as a muscle or as a craft. That being said, relearning how to do it felt kind of like a muscle, but not really. It was like I was learning this completely new thing that I had no context for. And for a while, I was like, “Is this even true?” But then I actually saw the results of it, and that’s what helped me to believe that it was real.
Rare antique instruments
You talked about playing 27 different instruments on the last record. Given all that we’ve talked about, was the process of experimentation different this time?
For me, I just select the ones that less people know about, just because I’d like to have my records sound like my records. That’s why I collect those, and it’s also kind of like a hobby. I’ve been doing it for a long time. You could dress this song up any way you want; it’s not of huge importance to me, the production side. The thing that I care about the most is the writing of the song. If you have a great song, you could probably arrange it in any way, and it would be great, or you could stick nothing on it, and it would be great. Very few people do that successfully. My main focus has always been trying to get this song so that it could work on its own, but then if you want, you can, and it’s just an extra fun thing.
Where do you find these instruments?
I find them in stores, or online, like on eBay. I find them from people, sometimes I buy them from friends. I’m always finding these instruments that nobody else wants. Usually, they don’t work, and you have to fix them, or you have to source somebody to fix them, and it can be kind of difficult sometimes.
Not trying
That’s one of those things, you can’t try to sound like yourself. But at the same time, you had to try to feel like yourself through this process, even if the musical expression didn’t require the same kind of effort.
Yeah, that’s what I meant by it, the musical side of it. For a long time, before all this happened, when I was in the hospital and all that, my only focus in my life was like, “I want to be a great songwriter.” And I think I paid the price for that, because I neglected taking care of myself. I really changed my whole life, in terms of how I interact with the world and my career, in the sense that I would much rather be healthy and happy and okay than be a great songwriter. I’ve noticed that when you lose your health, you have nothing. You could have all the money in the world, and you can’t spend it if you don’t have your health, or you can’t enjoy anything. You could have a great talent but not be able to use it. Going through everything really made me prioritize me over my career.
Of course I try; it’s an exaggeration when I say “not trying.” It’s up to a certain point. It’s not forcing, not trying so hard that it is harmful, or that I neglect parts of myself that should be cared for. In the music industry, you’re more viewed as a machine or somebody that generates money. You’re not really viewed as a person. A lot of times people that are making creative work are people that need a lot more care and consideration, because a lot of the time they’re really sensitive. That whole thing of not trying, it just applies to making my health and my well-being a priority over any career thing. That is not important in the grand scheme of my life.
Having that realization was a big thing for me, because I was forced to have it. If I could go back, I wish would have just taken care of myself earlier, because then I never would have gone through any of this. But then again, maybe in the future, I’ll feel differently. Maybe I’ll feel like this was all really important to go through so that I could realize this, and so that I could have a nice life. People probably won’t all agree with this, but the way I view it is, regardless of whether artists create better art when they suffer or not, I don’t want them to suffer. I don’t care if they don’t make good art; that’s not really that important. It’s much more important that they have a nice life, to me. After going through what I’ve gone through, it made me really, really compassionate towards other people that are going through things. I wouldn’t care if somebody created great art; I’d rather have them be happy than do that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
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Best Time Before Departure
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Factors That Affect Timing
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Common Mistakes
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Practical Tips
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Confirm device supports eSIM functionality
Keep a copy of the QR code for backup access
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Ensure data roaming remains enabled
Activate only after arrival at the destination
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Avoid Early Activation During Real Travel Situations
Travel sometimes includes long transit hours, layovers, and early device checks before reaching the destination. It is common to turn on mobile data out of habit while waiting at the airport or during a connecting flight. This can accidentally trigger eSIM activation if the device connects to a supported network. Losing even one day of validity can affect short trips where every day of data matters.
Keep the eSIM line switched off until the final destination is reached. Avoid testing connectivity during transit, even if network signals appear available. Focus on using airport WiFi or the primary SIM for temporary access before arrival. This simple habit ensures that the plan starts only when it is actually needed and remains active for the full intended duration.
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Choose the Best Time to Activate Your eSIM
A travel eSIM delivers reliable mobile data when activation timing aligns with the actual start of the trip. Installing the profile early and activating after arrival ensures full use of the plan duration. Careful control of device settings prevents unintended activation. Clear preparation supports consistent connectivity throughout the journey.
Accurate timing protects the full value of the selected plan. Awareness of activation triggers helps avoid unnecessary loss of valid days. Practical preparation ensures stable access to essential digital services. Reliable connectivity supports a smooth and organized travel experience.
