Album
Too Much Noise
Album · 15 tracks · May 2025 · by Mike Baker
Fifteen indie songs move through public performance, private collapse, digital distance, and the fragile relief of one person choosing to stay.
The story
Too Much Noise came from real places: long nights, honest conversations, and struggles that didn't belong on social media while they were happening. I was writing as a dad, a friend, and someone close to people trying to survive experiences that were hard to explain. Which moments were mine and which belonged to someone I loved isn't something I've laid out anywhere, and I'd rather leave those boundaries where they are.
The album starts in a crowded world where attention rarely turns into connection. Everyone's Talking hears constant speech without much evidence that anyone feels understood. Smile for the Camera moves that pressure into public presentation, where looking well becomes one more job for a person already carrying too much.
This House Is Loud and Empty is the contradiction at the center of the record. A room can hold conversation, alerts, television, family movement, and endless information while somebody inside it feels unreachable. Made a Mess, Stayed in Bed brings the scale down to one day, when shame and exhaustion feed each other.
The Friend I Don't Talk To Anymore is a loss without a clean ending. Ghost Me Too turns disappearance inward and asks what happens when a person withdraws from their own needs and identity. Talk Like That looks at the harm sitting inside familiar language. Group Chat Silence studies the absence that shows up in a space built for constant contact.
I Just Wanted to Feel Something approaches numbness honestly and carefully. Autopilot Heart describes a life still working after the emotional presence has thinned out. Louder Than My Thoughts gives internal pressure a competing volume, though I didn't want intensity treated as proof that a thought is true.
Turn It All Off (and Stay) asks for a smaller world with one trusted person still in it. Can You Just Be Here says it plainly. Presence doesn't solve every condition or remove the need for professional support. It does give someone in distress evidence that they haven't become a problem everyone else is planning to avoid.
Still Here marks survival without asking for a celebration. Second Breath closes with enough room for another attempt. I wanted the ending to respect recovery as uneven work, shaped by time, treatment, relationships, and decisions whose importance you often only see later.
If you landed here because one of those titles felt uncomfortably familiar, the music can offer recognition and not much else. If you are in crisis you deserve trained support right away, and emergency services if there is danger. The numbers are at the bottom of this page.
If any of this is where you are right now
These songs are not a substitute for help
This album came out of hard nights and honest conversations. It is not treatment, and it is not a replacement for talking to someone trained for this. If you are struggling, please reach out.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — in the US, call or text 988, or chat online. Free, confidential, 24/7. Text and chat are also available in Spanish, and there is a Deaf and Hard of Hearing option.
- If someone is in immediate danger — call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room.
Outside the US, the Find A Helpline directory lists free crisis lines by country.
If you only have a few minutes
Start here
01This House Is Loud and Empty
The album's central feeling appears inside a home filled with sound where emotional distance remains stronger than physical proximity.
02The Friend I Don't Talk To Anymore
An unresolved friendship loss receives space without forcing a villain, a reunion, or a simple explanation for the silence.
03Can You Just Be Here
The request for presence gives listeners a practical model of support grounded in attention, respect, and staying close enough to listen.
04Second Breath
The closer offers another beginning at a believable scale, allowing hope to arrive as renewed capacity while recovery remains underway.
Tracks
- 01Everyone's Talking
- 02Smile for the Camera
- 03This House Is Loud and Empty
- 04Made a Mess, Stayed in Bed
- 05The Friend I Don't Talk To Anymore
- 06Ghost Me Too
- 07Talk Like That
- 08Group Chat Silence
- 09I Just Wanted to Feel Something
- 10Autopilot Heart
- 11Louder Than My Thoughts
- 12Turn It All Off (and Stay)
- 13Can You Just Be Here
- 14Still Here
- 15Second Breath
Track by track
01Everyone's Talking
Constant opinion and conversation create volume without the patient attention required for another person to feel heard.
02Smile for the Camera
A public expression hides distress while the pressure to appear well adds another layer of exhaustion and distance.
03This House Is Loud and Empty
Noise fills a shared home while the people inside struggle to reach one another with honesty or sustained attention.
04Made a Mess, Stayed in Bed
One difficult day gathers disorder, shame, and fatigue into a cycle that makes the next small action feel far away.
05The Friend I Don't Talk To Anymore
A relationship remains emotionally present after contact has ended, leaving grief without the rituals that usually accompany loss.
06Ghost Me Too
Withdrawal extends inward as the narrator recognizes how neglecting personal needs has created distance from their own life.
07Talk Like That
Words used casually inside a relationship reveal power, injury, and patterns that deserve closer attention.
08Group Chat Silence
A missing response becomes conspicuous inside constant digital conversation, exposing how connection tools sometimes deepen uncertainty.
09I Just Wanted to Feel Something
Numbness drives the search for intensity, and the song holds that impulse with compassion while refusing to make danger attractive.
10Autopilot Heart
Daily responsibilities continue while emotion, choice, and connection feel increasingly distant from the person performing them.
11Louder Than My Thoughts
Internal pressure competes with reason and rest, making quiet difficult even after the outside world has settled.
12Turn It All Off (and Stay)
The narrator asks for relief from screens and noise while protecting one relationship from the urge to disappear completely.
13Can You Just Be Here
Advice gives way to attentive company as one person asks another to share the room without taking control of the experience.
14Still Here
Continued presence becomes enough for the moment, honoring survival before the person feels ready to describe what comes next.
15Second Breath
The body and mind find enough room for another attempt, closing the record with cautious movement toward life.
Where it leads
Too Much Noise asked how people remain connected when distress, performance, and technology make honest contact difficult. Eight days later, The Way We Shine placed that question inside families and communities deciding whether love will become visible when an LGBTQ+ person tells the truth about who they are.