M. Lockwood Porter is announcing his new album Sisyphus Happy, which will be released Oct. 14 via Black Mesa Records. The project was co-produced and recorded in collaboration with acclaimed Americana singer-songwriter and longtime friend John Moreland, who contributed drums, bass, and mixing to all but one track on the record. The project follows Lockwood’s critically-acclaimed 2019 album Communion in the Ashes, and previous coverage from NPR Music, American Songwriter, Billboard and many more.
When we checked in with Max in March 2019, it was fresh off the release of his heady Communion in the Ashes. We talked about the influences of hip-hop on his strident folk rock album and the strains of living in the Bay Area as a working artist. Sisyphus Happy, like most music being released in 2022, is a more introspective affair. Porter unspools sinewy melodies and lyrics tart with irony and surprise at how life can suddenly fall out under you.
Written between 2019 and 2021, the songs on Sisyphus Happy encapsulates a time of seismic shifts both personal and global, as Porter grappled with the changing meaning of family and home: he split up with his longtime partner and moved back to Oklahoma. Then his father passed away. Amid his grief, Porter began to explore his spirituality, reconciled with his partner, moved back to California and got married, all against the backdrop of Trump’s tumultuous final year in office and a once-in-a-generation pandemic.
To coincide with the album announcement he’ll be sharing “The Kid Who Ran Away,” an intensely personal and engaging track that blends elements of Americana, indie rock and folk storytelling.
“This song is a story song about my relationship with my dad,” Porter says. “It’s one of those songs where everything just clicked into place really quickly, both when writing it and when recording it. After recording the drums for it, John Moreland texted me, ‘This is a really good song,’ and that’s better than a gold record in my book.”
Sisyphus Happy will be out on October 14.
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