Trying to identify similar artists to myself

This is tough, I feel your pain. I'm responding out of empathy and sorry I don't have a worthwhile solution for you. As someone who too finds himself torn between a myriad of genres (due to a very, very broad musical background), I get it.

Just shooting the breeze here, not critiquing whatsoever, but the questions I often ask myself are:

1. Am I trying to be the musical equivalent of a highly challenged French/Chinese/Mexican fusion restaurant?

2. If I can't find any "sound like" artists to compare with, is there a reason for it? Am I trying to succeed in the tumbleweeds where there is no market and little audience interest?

3. So, should I find a niche I'm good at that has a following, start there and gradually differentiate.

Apologies again that I don't have much to offer, except the obvious cliche - to clearly define who your market is and wonder what their other interests are to align your marketing with (rather than non-existent similar artists). Erased Tapes has some interesting artists that might be worth browsing to see if you can find any common ground.

BTW - I really enjoyed Windfall, especially the first track On A Dark Night. That's the kind of guitar crossover that pushes my buttons! (Speaking of Erased Tapes, I do enjoy a lot of Penguin Cafe's music).

Good luck and respect for pushing the boundaries, there may be a crossover breakthrough there just waiting for you!

I took a listen to a couple tracks on Distractions and they remind me of video game music, particularly Japanese RPG's (Zelda, Final Fantasy, Xenoblade, Octopath Traveler). That kind of music often also features colorful hybrid orchestrations, accessible harmonic language, and slightly synthy sounding samples. I'd add that JRPG music is also a fairly popular genre among (younger) audiences.

Many thanks for the suggestions guys. I really appreciate your taking the time to listen to some of the music. 'Synthy sounding samples' - yikes!

It's interesting, I found a website with a 'similar artists finder' tool on it. I put my name into it and it found Distractions and listed a number of apparently similar artists, among them quite a few Japanese games composers including Hoyo-Mix who did the music for Genshin Impact. I was surprised and a bit dismayed as that's not a genre I particularly want to be identified with, however if that's what you hear, then that's useful information for sure.

All great points Arbee and thanks for your comments on "On A Dark Night". Yes I think Erased Tapes is a very good starting point. The little I've heard from them sounds a bit more 'arty' than what I tend to write but I'd love to find common ground with that kind of music as I really like that sound. I'm thinking my next project might move more in that kind of direction, probably more guitar-driven too.

I think your 'cliche' is actually very helpful - good to be reminded of that angle, though I've always found it a hard thing to figure out. I don't need to make a living through music so I would settle for a small niche audience if I could get that, though being stuck in the tumbleweeds could be a bit depressing! I'm committed to writing the music I want to rather than write for a particular audience, which will limit my audience options I know but at this rather late stage of my life I'm only interested in sounding my own 'authentic voice', if that doesn't sound pretentious. If I was young and just starting out I might well write for the market but not now. However, finding that niche that has a following and then differentiating does sound like a good approach.

So thanks again for a very thought-provoking post with plenty to ponder on. I appreciate your time. Meanwhile I'll try and become a little more interested in JRPG and see if I can find anything that I would be willing to align with. Not that it isn't good music, it's just that I'm aiming for something different. I was a big prog rock fan back in the day, since then have loved artists like Pat Metheny for example who in his Lyle Mays days really pushed the genre boundaries of jazz. I love all that.

Edit: I just had a listen to Old Town, the title track. Really lovely piece and excellent production. Reminds me of some Yellowjackets material, if we're talking about 'sounds like'..