There’s something refreshing about an artist who doesn’t pretend to have it all figured out. Dennis Garrison, the songwriter behind Altered State, finally finished ‘The Perfect Night‘ after years of creating its songs. Some tracks sat completed for half a decade, but he wasn’t chasing perfection. He was chasing something more honest: the willingness to just put it out there.
The 10-track debut drops January 16, and it’s exactly what Garrison promised it would be: a little rough, spread across different sounds, recorded in various houses with a laptop and whatever gear was available. It’s the kind of DIY project that feels real because it doesn’t try to hide its seams.
“California,” one of the album’s standout tracks, captures what makes this project work. It’s a pop-punk song built on what Garrison calls “soft nihilism,” the idea that life might not have some grand cosmic purpose, but you can still choose what matters to you. The verses observe life as it actually is: predictable cycles, people searching for meaning they mostly don’t find, nature doing its thing regardless. There’s no drama in this observation, just acceptance.
Instead of turning that into something heavy, the song leans into pleasure and presence. California becomes less a place and more a state of mind. Sun, ocean, drinks, laughter, the people who don’t quite fit anywhere else. The track captures a simple sentiment: if this is all there is, that’s okay, as long as you’re with your people by the ocean, living freely. Even death gets reframed as just another part of the same vibe. It’s not nihilism as despair. It’s nihilism as permission to stop overthinking and start living.
The production reflects the band’s scattered origins. Garrison handles guitar, bass, lyrics, and main vocals. Cody Vaughan does most of the guitar work and composition. Brian Carter plays bass, Adrian Soares on drums. At different points they have Michael Hennessy on drums, use a drum machine for some parts, an electric drum kit for shows. Ferdinand D fixes and re-records drum parts. Friends add background vocals. Everything was recorded with different mics in different home studios.
It’s not a polished studio album, and that’s kind of the point. Garrison and Vaughan started doing open mics and small gigs in Merced, the California Delta, and Stockton with their friend Patrick David O’Shaughnessy, writing all day in coffee shops and bars, trying to figure out what worked. Garrison sang in the choir at UC Merced, played bass in cover bands, slowly built toward this.
He describes the sound as positive with notes of comedy, ridiculous situations with catchy hooks. People have compared it to the Beach Boys, which surprised him because he thinks it sounds stuck in the ’90s. The Third Eye Blind influence is there. Those hooks that get stuck in your head, lyrics that make you think.
What stands out is Garrison’s lack of pretense about the whole thing. He’s not claiming this is revolutionary or even polished. He’s just saying: here’s what we made, it’s not perfect, but it’s ours. The album spreads across indie, alternative, punk, with some Sublime-influenced energy. It’s meant to feel a bit absurd because, as Garrison puts it, life is absurd.
His main message to other artists is simple: you don’t need a perfect album to put it out. You can wait until it feels like your time, give people your best, and keep making music. Have fun with it. For Altered State, getting this published and on streaming platforms isn’t just about the music. It’s about having something tangible for venues and promoters, showing commitment, making it easier to book shows.
Some of these songs have been done for five years, but Garrison kept creating until the album felt complete. Now he’s ready to let ‘The Perfect Night’ exist in the world. Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s done. And honestly? That might be the most punk rock thing about it.
Follow Altered State on Instagram and pre-save ‘The Perfect Night’ ahead of its January 16 release.
