Sometimes we tell the story, and sometimes we are actors serving as a part of it.” In The Anxiety Suite, Michael Barton is storyteller and actor … artist and subject … docent and exhibit. Through the music, the artwork, and the album notes, we follow him from one stage to another; from a dangerous grade-school musical invention to crafting artisanal basses and drums played on this record; from youthful basement recording to world-class studios and back again; from disquietly crowned king to self-imposed exile; from a Master’s in Jazz Studies, to the youngest-ever Fellow of the American Society of Photographers, to the realization that peace is – at best – elusive… from the highs and lows of overindulgence to the hallelujah chorus … “Anxiety is a strange, inescapable creature yet a necessary catalyst for growth and independence