The intersection of rap and introversion doesn’t seem to be particularly populous—if anything, the genre has traditionally been an outlet for otherwise-shy kids to express themselves more confidently than anywhere else. Thus leaving the lane wide open for someone like Myles Bullen to come through and drop an album like Mourning Travels, which often feels more like sing-sony poetry than hard-hitting bars, with only a handful of soft-voiced, bedroom-confined emcees of yore—such as Otem Relik and Deathbomb-signee Hareld—setting a precedent. With ideas and sounds carrying over from their last record, Healing Hurts, Travels is a continuation of the journey toward recovery, comfortably translating all the twists along the way into interesting left-turn instrumental and lyrical choices.
“Part two of Healing Hurts, Mourning Travels is my continued travelogue entry on grief and wading through the waters of mental health, friendship, and tenderness through a painful yet playful lense,” Bullen explains. “From the anarchist ukulele sing-talk diddy about the apocalypse, to a soft, lo-fi/folk tune about being a very small creature, to a screaming dream-pop anthem about not killing yourself, Mourning Travels is a coffee-table eulogy, a fruit basket, a train ride, a long walk. It took multiple parts to glue this kintsugi together: parts were recorded with John Zebley in Lewiston, Maine, parts were transferred from all around the world, parts were spontaneously captured as voice memos in various rooms of my apartment on an iPhone SE. Mourning Travels is best listened to on a long walk going somewhere you've never been.”
With the record officially dropping tomorrow, we’re sharing an early stream below, along with a music video for the track “Ordinary Magic,” featuring a guest verse from billy woods. The colorful animated visual provides lyrics written out as well as subtle illustrated details, such as an image of a hand on a light switch during woods’ recitation of a lyric about Waking Life.
Hear the album and watch that video below.
