The album's release date marks what would have been his late son Dorian Zev Kweller's 19th birthday. The Austin-based musician called it the "most personal, emotionally raw project" he's worked on.

“‘Optimystic’ in a lot of ways, is me going back to my teenage roots,” Kweller tells Consequence. “It’s a full-circle thing because Dorian was 16 when he passed and he was a lot like I ...