In March 2020, Marc Griffin (known best by his stage name Marc E. Bassy) was in the middle of his tour in support of his last record, 2019's PMD. But just as he was heading back to the West Coast for a string of shows, the Bay Area-born artist was forced to scrap his performances because of the brewing pandemic.

He was devastated, he admits. But he immediately got to work, creating an influx of new material. Like many in the music industry affected by the global shutdowns, Griffin initially thought perhaps COVID-19 would subside after a few months, and he planned accordingly. But the virus didn't subside as he anticipated, and he didn't like the idea of releasing an album in the middle of a health crisis. So, he waited, and kept making music.

Now, his new album has finally arrived. And the wait has proven to be worth it. Titled Little Men, this is perhaps Griffin's most mature, most conscientious record yet. It's also his latest on his own label, New Gold Medal.

"This is the second album I made independently," says Griffin, speaking with Variance immediately after the album's release. "And it's crazy because there's no more adults in the room. We're the adults now. So it was really on me to make sure that the mixing, the mastering, the engineering—everything—was at the highest level possible. When I started off with major labels, that's one thing they generally do for you."

Bay Area bred, Los Angeles- based pop/R&B hybrid, singer/songwriter Marc E. Bassy, has unveiled his new album Little Men.

Of the project, Bassy shared "Little Men is a reference to the "little mind/big mind" theory in Zen Buddhism. Little mind operates out of and is in service of ego, wrapped up entirely in its desire. which drives so much of the world I live in. And it leads to some dark tendencies. Some of the things I usually try to be better than or stay away from, I ended up getting deeper into - infidelity, addiction, lying, toxic work and romantic relationships. This is the story of trying to get to the other side of the ego - which is real joy, comradery, and triumph."