In a world of bytes and clips, Anchorage musician Chad Reynvaan creates an album for the times

It started as an accident.

Chad Reynvaan had a verse and a chorus, the beginnings of what he thought could eventually become a song.

“Then I just wrote an ending and it sounded good,” he said “And I stepped back from it and listened, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s about a minute long and it feels pretty good. And I don’t really want to add a second verse and a third verse and drag it out into this long ordeal.’ ”

The song, “On Pot,” was fun and frivolous, custom-made for a fleeting treatment. But Reynvaan, an Anchorage musician and producer, kept creating within those parameters. “One Minute Songs,” which he released this month, includes “On Pot” and 16 more one-minute tunes.

In a world of bytes and clips, Reynvaan has created an album for the times.

“It just kind of hit me there’s a market for songs that cater towards the attention span of the modern day,” he said. “If I could do a bunch of them, I could do an album. It’d be a nice changeup for me. I’ve been writing normal-length songs my entire life, and so all of a sudden I got really inspired on the idea.”

Reynvaan said that under the strict one-minute format, he found it easier to shape an idea into a song.

“It’s already kind of predestined,” he said. “You just have to take the bits you like and fit them into that and not worry about making it interesting for three minutes.”

Reynvaan has played a lot of roles and instruments in numerous bands during this time in Anchorage. He’s also recorded some of the state’s top bands at his Wattage Studio.

That helped when it came to turning the songs into recordings. Reynvaan recorded the album himself and performed everything from guitar, bass and vocals to drums and keyboards — even omnichord. He also did the mixing and mastering himself.

Reynvaan used a combination of fresh song ideas and old ideas that he hadn’t yet been able to develop into full songs. That meant mining old voice memos and notes, which led to about half of the album.

“I’d say about 50% of them were ideas that had come at some point in my history and then the other half were just things that happened right away when I picked up the guitar,” he said.

Thematically, the album has plenty of variety. “Music Biz” is biting and contemplative. “Brand New Way” is about moving on and looking ahead. Sonically, it sits in Reynvaan’s wheelhouse of rock songs with bopping beats and sticky hooks.

“It’s funny, as one-minute songs, you think they’re going to be undeveloped,” he said. “But when I listen back, they actually go places. They have a beginning and and they take you on a journey. It’s just a bit of a shorter journey.”

While the format liberated him as a songwriter, Reynvaan said some of the songs turned out so well, he’d wished they could have been expanded.

“There were lots of songs I was unhappy about being forced to stop,” he said.

When he had an idea for a song, he was able to move fairly quickly from seed to a fully developed recording.

“Almost all these were written and recorded at the same time,” he said. “I love doing that with bands and solo. It’s really fresh and you don’t overthink stuff and spend forever tweaking aspects that aren’t important.”

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He started the project late last year and wrote the second song, “Say Goodbye,” on Christmas 2023. While the writing process was pretty quick, the production was about the same as a regular record.

“Each one ended up being such a full production,” he said.

Now that the album is released, Reynvaan is in a somewhat unusual situation for performing them live — he could play the album from start to finish in less than 20 minutes. He plans to do just that on Thursday at Williwaw as part of The Premier Show. The event, which runs from 7-9 p.m., also features new music from Thomas Moore, Ric O’Shea and Shane Russell.

“I don’t want people clapping after every one because that’d be tiresome,” he joked.

But the songs might find their way on to other platforms. He’s already had a filmmaker from his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, license two of the songs. And while the songs might find greater utility in a world of TikTok clips and Instagram reels, Reynvaan has old-school aspirations for the album.

“It could be a new way for my songs to be utilized,” he said. “I really just want people to listen to them and enjoy them.”