Album
Shut Out the Noise
Album · by Mike Baker
For the days the world gets too loud to think in.
The story
This album came from a place I think a lot of people are sitting in right now, even if they don’t always say it out loud. Everything feels loud. Not just literally, but mentally. Every day there’s something new demanding your attention, your opinion, your reaction. News, social media, conversations, expectations… it never really stops.
At some point I started realizing it wasn’t just the world that felt overwhelming — it was what all that noise was doing inside my own head. It starts to blur things. You lose track of what you actually think, what you actually feel, and what even matters anymore.
This project is me working through that.
It’s not about pretending the noise isn’t there, because it is. It’s constant. But it’s about figuring out how to live in it without letting it take over everything. How to step back, how to filter it, how to decide what deserves your energy and what doesn’t.
As the album moves, it goes through that whole process. The overload, the pressure, the mental static, the point where it all feels like too much… and then slowly finding some clarity again. Not perfect clarity, not everything solved, but enough to feel grounded.
The visuals tie into that idea too. All these animals in the middle of chaos, but they’re calm. They’re not reacting to every signal flying past them. They’re just there, steady, turned into themselves instead of everything else.
That’s really what this is about.
Not shutting down the world, because you can’t. But learning how to shut out the parts of it that don’t serve you, so you can actually feel something real again.
Turn it up, but more importantly… know when to turn everything else down.
If you only have a few minutes
Start here
01Manufactured Panic
The song identifies how fear is produced, repeated, and rewarded, giving the album a clear public target.
02Everybody’s Talking Nobody’s Listening
Communication breaks down as expression replaces attention and people lose contact while occupying the same conversation.
03Silence Isn't Peace
The album's strongest distinction reminds listeners that quiet sometimes reflects avoidance or suppressed truth.
04Feel Something Again
The closer restores emotional contact after sustained noise has blurred thought, feeling, and priority.
Tracks
- 01Shut Up and Feel Something
- 02Manufactured Panic
- 03Everybody’s Talking Nobody’s Listening
- 04Fear Sells Faster
- 05Static In My Head
- 06Too Loud Too Ignore
- 07Say It Like You Mean It
- 08Out Of Line On Purpose
- 09Silence Isn't Peace
- 10I Know What This Is Now
- 11The Signal Is Broken
- 12Volume Over Silence
- 13No More Background Noise
- 14Feel Something Again
Track by track
01Shut Up and Feel Something
The opening demand interrupts constant commentary and asks what emotion remains when performance stops.
02Manufactured Panic
Alarm becomes a product shaped to hold attention and keep people returning for the next threat.
03Everybody’s Talking Nobody’s Listening
Voices fill the room while attention disappears, leaving people expressive and emotionally unheard.
04Fear Sells Faster
Fear moves quickly through media and relationships because urgency often outruns verification and judgment.
05Static In My Head
Outside signals remain active internally after the source has gone quiet, affecting sleep, mood, and concentration.
06Too Loud Too Ignore
A meaningful issue breaks through the clutter and tests whether the listener still knows how to respond with care.
07Say It Like You Mean It
Direct speech gains value when words stay connected to conviction, consequence, and responsibility.
08Out Of Line On Purpose
The narrator disrupts a comfortable pattern because remaining agreeable would require abandoning something important.
09Silence Isn't Peace
The absence of argument provides incomplete evidence when fear, exclusion, or avoidance controls who speaks.
10I Know What This Is Now
Recognition gives the narrator language for a pattern that previously felt confusing and difficult to resist.
11The Signal Is Broken
Trust weakens when information channels reward distortion and people lose confidence in what reaches them.
12Volume Over Silence
Speaking becomes necessary when silence would leave harm unchallenged or another person alone.
13No More Background Noise
The narrator chooses what deserves attention and removes access from demands that have occupied the mind without earning it.
14Feel Something Again
The closer returns the listener to emotion grounded in lived experience and free from manufactured reaction.
Where it leads
Shut Out the Noise clarified what deserved attention and what needed to lose access. Nearly four months later, Side Quest used that reclaimed attention for curiosity, humor, family life, creative work, and the ordinary day already happening.