In an album titled “Became a Stranger,” a local artist, Fletcher Magellan, is charting unknown territories with his first album of original music. Growing up in the Twin Cities, he’s been playing musical instruments since he was a child.

“I’ve been playing music since I was about four years old, transitioned into saxophone in middle school and high school I found the guitar; and here we are now,” he said.

Although he’s been playing music for much of his life, the progression towards releasing his own album didn’t happen right away. Magellan attended McNally Smith College of Music and graduated in 2007 with a Music Production and Recording Engineering degree. After this he performed with five different bands, and also stayed “behind the board” for eight years, three of which were in his own studio in Minneapolis. In the midst of playing in other groups and running his recording studio, he was writing.

“I wrote a couple little country songs and played a few open mics,” he said.

After enough time working on other people’s projects and music, he realized that the writing he’d been doing on the side was starting to become something more.

“About two years ago I collected enough of these songs and had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment when I said, ‘I think these songs are good,’” he said.

The inspiration for the upcoming record came from the sudden decision to move to Pittsburgh, which lasted a brief two weeks before he considered moving back home. However, an invitation from a friend in Alaska led him to travel there to work for the summer.

“I got there on a Monday, interviewed on a Wednesday and then got the glamourous job of washing dishes at this $500 lodge. This is something I never would have done even a year before that,” he said.

The emotions within the album stem from his experiences of traveling suddenly. The title, “Became a Stranger,” stemmed specifically from a possible opening track on the record titled, “I Left My Home (Caroline).” The entire sensation of travel and new experiences is encapsulated in the record.

“What it means to me is going out, exploring the unknown, making a lot of mistakes and figuring out more about yourself in the process… it’s a little bit of loneliness, but a lot of excitement. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m gonna go with it and see what happens,” he said.

These feelings come out in a blend of old-fashioned country, folk and americana sound, dubbed Cosmic American Music by Magellan’s musical influence, Gram Parsons of the band The Flying Burrito Brothers. At its base, the songs themselves are simple country tunes, though not the country of today.

“I’m coming from the fifties honky-tonk, sixties and seventies Outlaw country. This is not a Taylor Swift record,” he said.

But those songs are layered with a collection of unique sounds, from ambient noises of an electric guitar, to congo drums, to songs that are reminiscent of “The Lion King” to even gospel choirs. The result is a melting pot of musical influence and styles.

For those interested in dipping a finger into this mixture, Magellan’s music is currently available both on Soundcloud  and Bandcamp or through attending his upcoming show on Dec. 12 at Hymies Vintage Records on Lake Street in Minneapolis from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with a dark folk group called Crow Call. The album is expected to release sometime in January and can be preordered from his Bandcamp page.