For Greg Mendez, reflection doesn't mean a static image in a mirror, or even a face he recognizes. It's more a kaleidoscopic mirage, where paths taken shapeshift with the prospect of paths untread, and the subconscious merges with the intentional. On his self-titled new album, the Philadelphia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist investigates the shaky camera of memory, striving to carve out a collage that points to a truth. But there isn’t a regimented actuality here; instead, Mendez highlights the merit in many truths, and many lives, and how even the hardest truths can still contain some humour. While this is technically Mendez's third full-length album, his back catalogue boasts an extensive range of EPs and live recordings. He's a prolific and thoughtful songwriter, understanding the joy in impulse, and shying away from the clinical sheen of overproduction. "Greg Mendez" was written in fragments, some stretching across more than a decade, with Mendez reworking old ideas and arrangements, and others blossoming much more recently. The weight of time - and perhaps the anxiety in running out of it - clouds the album, as Mendez prods at some painful experiences from his childhood and early adulthood.