Don Rello Records His Sharpest Album Inside His First Real Home Studio on "I Don't Watch TV III" Album
Don Rello built his first home studio last year, right after moving into a new house with his wife and baby daughter, and that detail changes how "I Don't Watch TV III" needs to be understood. This is a seven-track album made in a space he finally owned, at a moment when his life was expanding and contracting at the same time, marriage and fatherhood arriving alongside the loss of a close friend who used to push him to keep releasing music.
That collision of grief and joy runs through the record without either canceling the other out. Rello has said the timing put him in an unfamiliar emotional place, having never experienced real loss before, and the album carries that disorientation honestly rather than resolving it into something tidy.
Two tracks in particular, "Is It Worth It?" and "Went Running to Find," stand out for exactly that reason. Both open with spoken-word intros from his collaborator Donski, framing devices that give the songs room to breathe before Rello's verses take over, and both represent what he considers his most direct expression on record to date.
The recording process backs up that sense of care. Rello mixed extensively using car tests alongside studio sessions, prioritizing how the album would actually sound to someone listening in ordinary conditions rather than only in a controlled room. That attention shows in the album's clarity, a noticeable step forward from earlier entries in the series.
As the third installment of the "I Don't Watch TV" project, this record doesn't just continue a title. It marks a genuine leap in craft, sharpened by a life that gave him more to say and, for the first time, a space of his own to say it in.
