1999 was the year my mother passed away, and as such it was one of the most pivotal years of my life. I was still very young at that point, and it took me several more years to come to terms with loss and grief. I learned a lot about grieving through that process.
15 years on, I was trying my best to figure out how to pay homage to her memory – much of which has already slipped away into the dregs of time. But what I do remember most is her love of music, and the best tribute I could think of was musical. Ninety Nine is the result. It is not necessarily the usual track frequent listeners might have come to expect – hidden in the minor chords is a sense of hope and optimism symbolizing simultaneously the longing that I often feel for her, even 20 years on, but also the longing to return to the more innocent youth that I spent with her, even as the memories slowly fade to grey.