Levon Vincent’s second LP is in the works.

The Berlin-based US-native announced the LP, For Paris, via his Facebook page earlier today, along with a lengthy statement about the story behind it. The announcement draws reference to his controversial Facebook post where he suggested that people arm themselves with knives or mace in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.The post attracted widespread criticism across social media.

The album will land in December, with the announcement and tracklisting in below:

“First, please let me apologize for how long it took to prepare an apology and make amends—I don’t like to do things unless it’s 100%—as you can imagine, due to the brevity of the horrible comments I made in 2015, I had a lot of thinking and looking inward to do on the situation. A LOT.

I want you to know I took things very seriously—I didn’t fully realize at that time that anyone thought of me as more than just a prankster or like, a techno dude making silly song titles. But actually what I learned is that the music industry has a lot in common with the political establishment. That was the base I chose for exploring new perspectives on humanity and how the world is versus how New York is, what I have learned through years of global travel and how the experience inspired me to try to aim for something meaningful in an apology, but also to try to make something which could benefit everyone around the world.

I hope to ignite a new peace movement with my music and this message here. I want to talk about peace, what I learned and I hope that maybe by putting it in musical form as well as these words I can make the best impact possible for what I see to be a world in agony.

I went on a reading spree. I read a lot and decided to develop a bigger worldview. I read about progressive spiritualism, I explored the Tao Te Ching, I read from the biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Psalms section of the Bible touched me, I read from Exodus in the Torah, I read from Khalil Ghibran, Malcom X, Patti Smith, Gandhi and peaceful resistance, I explored suppression techniques such as NLP and new incentive-based coercive methods as written by John Robb, the rise and fall of the American peace movement and civil rights era, I read about 1980s Zersetzung protocols, the American Prohibition Era, I learned about the nature of war, and I learned about peace—and I tried to meditate on everything and see what would rise.

Eventually, I did see that John Lennon had once been in trouble for making comments about the popularity of the Beatles. He compared them to Jesus. This story about John Lennon getting himself and his friends into trouble publicly really captivated me—I am not comparing myself to Lennon, that’s not my point—but I stopped there with him because of the similarity of his speaking of the cuff, not choosing words patiently and wisely- how being a musician thrust into a bigger platform rapidly can really leave you blindsided if you don’t explore these themes and take life and your position seriously. Then, I started reading his words, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” “Imagine all the People…”

I cried at this time. I had an epiphany and thought that this was the answer—to embrace peace, the concept of what it is to be loving in spite of angst or how world events can cause panic or fear. Peace is the answer —so why didn’t it have a better success? He and Yoko were mocked for paying to promote their message of peace in advertisement form… They faced trouble from the establishment while living in New York in the Dakota building. Eventually, he was killed.

I started thinking about all this, and I arrived at an extension in thought about this concept of promoting peace, what If I could aide in bringing forth a new movement via the techno subculture? Or by adding to peace In the world any way I could. One can only either build or destroy. I chose to try to build.

I realized—it’s not enough to promote peace—there is another element which I would like to address—sociopathy and the pathology of “the dark triad.” This was crucial for me because it gave me the perspective I was missing or had not encountered before in life: the question of how to de-glamorize behavioral patterns which have hurt us for thousands of years. What I arrived at was this: to think of power as a commodity, something to trade and covet… not good… What could we do if we prioritized wisdom as a commodity in our hearts and minds, rather than vying for power? And through all this, I was writing music and even pulling from older song ideas from a time when I was more innocent and had a special optimism about life and what lay ahead.

I believe that we must embrace peace, really make it stylish and something cool to be about. I am trying, I hope you will too. I am not a professional writer but I hope my words will resonate regardless… I learned a difficult lesson and I didn’t take it lightly- I hope that is reflected in the music I am presenting to you. The digital will be released next week for you all. Eric’s Release will come the week after. He’s always about peace and love. It’s a type of campaign and my best effort.

I will not release anything else during November out of respect for Paris, and all the people of Europe and around the world. In December I will release vinyl versions of the LP, comprised of four records, one each month. And there will be some different music on the vinyl, and homemade artwork, but continuing on this path of both apology and of presenting an alternative to my stupidity/naivety in my comments through sharing what I’ve personally learned.

I hope you will like the music, and I hope it touches you. This is not some PR stunt. It’s real. I am grateful for the lessons through my experiences. I put my heart and spirit into this LP. I am looking forward to sharing it with you, and—I’m sorry for everything.

With love, and wishes of global peace,

Levon Vincent

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