By 
I woke up on New Year’s Day in the desert in Arizona. I knew right then and there that this was gona be a surreal year.
It had already begun like a fever dream, and things were only gona get weirder.
It was beginning to feel like I was living my life inside a painting. Nothing made much sense anymore. There’s nothing to do but surrender to the weirdness and ride the wave. Nothing is forced, it just happens… You go along with it and get dragged along only to find yourself in the state you’re in, good or bad.
It’s been a rollercoaster, an avalanche of emotion that is impossible to process. It’ll take a long time to unpack. Is it better now to take the foot off the throttle and go into the slow lane? Or is it time to double down? It boggles the mind. But no, I think maybe it’s time to retreat to the bat cave and hibernate.
Let’s see what will emerge at the other side.
Meanwhile, there is plenty going on to occupy the mind. If you need some sonic tonic for your earlobes to satisfy the mind, I suggest you pick up a copy of ‘The Spin’ soundtrack, either from Johnny at Boneyard Records, or direct from me at McKowski.com.
There you will find music from the film by myself, and the album also features a ton of guests. One of which is Pieta Brown, who appears on the track ‘Sweet Thursday’ (named after a Steinbeck novel).
John Parish (known for his longtime collaboration with PJ Harvey) also pops up on the track. This is just one of the many treats you will find on the album. I’ve never met Pieta in person (she lives in Iowa), but we have met on an astral level that isn’t defined by the human clock.
But I’m rambling now.
Below are details of the track, which I’m sure you’ll agree, is as sweet as the title suggests…
Written on two different Thursdays in two different countries by two almost strangers – also known as Mark McCausland and Pieta Brown – ‘Sweet Thursday (O Where)’ is a majestically-blue and lonesome waltz straight out of the mythic hills.
“Mark McCausland and I had been working intermittently on some distance music collaborations with Howe Gelb – but one day Mark sent over a recording of one of his own instrumental pieces. It actually stopped me in my tracks… I immediately felt like singing when I heard it – and so I did!
“And luckily I recorded it as the words and vocal melody ideas were landing,” Pieta describes. “And I’m not gonna lie… I had been feeling so blue. But, suddenly Mark’s melody so sweetly let me in…”
Before long Mark and Pieta invited their friends Rich Hinman, Dave Murphy and John Parish to play on the track, too.
And Parish even ended up mixing the track on analogue gear somewhere in England, otherwise known as Bristol.
Available now on streaming services or on vinyl as part of ‘The Spin’ soundtrack.
