Max Green had finished self-producing his first album. Under kinder circumstances, he would have had Richard Ward listen to it first (assuming he wasn't already helping Max create the thing in the first place). However, without that connection anymore, Max turned to Claude Rousseau instead.
The two emailed back and forth for a while about it. Claude was reluctant to help at first, he was honest about his depression with Max. And although Max could really sympathize with where Claude was coming from, he insisted that since they were both "going through it" that Claude had inadvertently made himself the perfect person to hear his album.
A few days later, Claude wrote back with nothing but praise and asked if he could forward it to the same agency that got Richard started. Max didn't like to admit it, but the music world of Whibley-Feverfew was very small so overlap like this was inevitable unfortunately. So Max gave his blessing for Claude to forward his album demo to as many people who would listen.
So of course Claude forwarded the album to Richard. Listening to it pained him to no end; between the expertly chosen bluesy rock theme, impressive wailing guitar solos, and soul-crushing lyrics which detailed the intimate hell Max was going through, each track left a new bruise on Richard's heart. But the real killer was that he would've loved to have been apart of Max's creative process on this if they were still friends.
[Max's music style is inspired by Dallas Green/City and Colour, and this album is a Simlish version of "If I Should Go Before You"]