[New Song] Monstera 🪴

My journey releasing music exclusively on Substack continues with "Monstera" - a love letter to the most chaotic period of my life

Below is a new song from my upcoming EP, “Acceptance” that I am releasing exclusively on Substack for my solo project, “telco”. I will NOT be releasing this (or any of my music) on Spotify or any of the major streaming platforms (see previous posts).

It’s called “Monstera” and features my dear friend Abigayle Oakley, and you can check out the story behind the song below. You can also jump right to the song here… but that ruins all the anticipation!!!

You can also download the full track for free by clicking here.

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🪴 The Story of “Monstera” 🪴

A year ago, I was losing my mind.

At the end of 2024, with my wife six months pregnant with our son Ralph, I decided to launch my own business - MAD Records - and leave my position as General Manager at my former job, Mastering.com.

And halfway through 2025… now with a newborn baby… I realized I might have bitten off more than I could chew.

On the surface I was holding it together (because frankly I had no choice), but at night after everyone would go to sleep… I would sit in my studio alone and wonder how on earth I was going to make this all work.

How am I going to support my family? How am I going to pay my employees?

And most importantly:

How can I somehow be a good Dad to Ralph when I feel so stressed all the time?

And funnily enough… it turns out that asking these questions to yourself in a room doesn’t yield many answers. (And it tends to scare your wife when she walks in on you talking to yourself.)

Around the same time… I bought a monstera plant. And I told myself that if I could just keep the plant alive, that was my sign from God that I was doing ok - that I would survive.

(SPOILER: I did not keep the monstera alive.)

RIP my sweet queen

So with no answers, a dying monstera in the corner of my room, and no idea how I was going to survive… I picked up a guitar and said some prayers over a little riff that my inexperienced fingers could manage.

And the result was this song, “Monstera (ft. Abigayle Oakley):

SO WHAT DID I LEARN?

Well… I realized that “caring for my monstera” also meant caring for myself. I couldn’t take care of something else if I wasn’t at peace with myself first. My poor monstera learned that the hard way.

Simply put…. I couldn’t run a business, help my employees, or be a good father if I couldn’t find a way to calm the f*** down.

My withering monstera was a reminder to take a moment, breathe, and let go.

And in March of 2026….

……my monstera regretfully passed peacefully in the night.

Moment of silence

But the lessons she taught me, and this song, shall live on forever.

I hope this song brings you some peace like it did for me, and serves as a reminder to figuratively water your own plants from time to time.

Long live good music 🫡⚔️

Michael from MAD Records

🌿 Lyrics 🌿

[telco] Empty pockets, broken lockets

Under hotel lights

Ruination is culminating

In this whiskey and wine

And I say, “Please, release me”

“Please, release me”

[CHORUS] Cause I’ve been losing my mind a little lately

Pretty sure that I’m out of control

Don’t walk away just yet,

I think I’d rather play pretend

So I better go and water my monstera

[Abigayle] The roots are dying, the baby’s crying

And you can’t see outside of four walls

Where things are blooming, outside of the room

Better than you ever knew…

Please, believe me. Please, believe me.

[CHORUS]

🌱 Credits 🌱

“Monstera"

Written by: Michael Gilbride, Abigayle Oakley

Performed by: Michael Gilbride (telco), Abigayle Oakley

Produced by: Michael Gilbride

Co-Prod / Editing by: Eric Chesek

Mastered by: Rob Schustack

Intro Poem: “When I Have Fears” by John Keats, read by Nicholas Woodeson (The Glorious Romantics (1978)

Ambient laughs and giggles: Ralph Gilbride and Melanie Gilbride

Rest in Power: 2024-2026

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to pick one 👇👇👇👇