Completions

Shawn Alpay’s pursuits have borne plenty of fruit. He's served as a cellist in many projects, including Father John Misty, Sleater-Kinney, Whitney, and How To Dress Well. He worked as a producer and engineer at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco for many years. And his solo project Completions released its first album I NEEDED HELP in 2022, roping in friends from Death Cab for Cutie, Beirut, and Laura Stevenson. But the biggest and most unexpected turn to his journey landed earlier this year.

He became a dad.

Having an infant means having a lot of unexpected 2am pockets to pick up a guitar and reflect, resulting in some of the most prolific and forthright songwriting of Shawn's career. "Your kid's existence somehow allows you to step outside yourself and more objectively describe your journey, and the choices, the pain, the joy, all of it," Alpay says. "The shaping of Marlow gets me dwelling on how I was shaped, and how I want more for her than what I got. These are universal parenting themes, I know -- but they then intersect with my precise story, and it's a thrill to see that exploration turn into songs and words that I know are worth sharing."

Alpay's lyrics have always leaned in a reflective direction, but there's a deeper sense of transparency and empathy in his latest efforts, which touch on the double-edged sword of emotional inheritance, the effect of burnout on a new marriage, and the mental health of dear friends. And of course, there's a song about Marlow in there too.

In the summer of 2025, Completions will release a split 12" vinyl and tour Europe with his wife's project, Loch Lomond. They'll have their toddler daughter in tow, and she might even be old enough by then to sing along.