Call It Quits was recorded upon moving to a new apartment in 2012.

I suddenly had my own man cave, and was too lazy to connect an ethernet cable to my computer so I had no internet access at the time. This naturally meant that distractions were minimised to the benefit of productivity and creativity.

This tune was my attempt at writing something scaled back that could be performed live as a trio, and was heavily inspired by the live tracks from Joe Satriani's "Dreaming #11" EP.

Naturally given that it was a trio tune I wanted to bring some pizzaz in the form of an extended guitar solo in the middle of it.

I'm not going to lie, I have limited patience with long solos. As one great guitarist put it, the phrasing gives out. And without interesting phrases, what are you left with?

However for once in my life I wanted to leave my comfort zone and stretch out a bit. And I'm glad I did, because I still feel that it holds up 10 years later.

Resurrecting it for this release was fun seeing as I sold the Jackson Soloist I'd recorded it with years and years ago, so no do-overs - what you hear is pure unfiltered 2011 Vanya Merc.

I'd initially envisioned the drums having some massive reverb on them (think 80's snare), but Leo provided something a whole lot more tasteful.

Just as it was meant to be the closer of "This Lousy T-Shirt" back in 2013 (that privilege went to "Twenty Six"), it punctuates Dropouts ending on a calm and contemplative note.