A new Morphine album created from archival recordings of previously unreleased songs titled Cocoon It will arrive on December 4. The instantly recognizable alternative rock group, whose primary instrumentation included baritone sax and two-string fretless bass, disbanded after the 1999 death of vocalist and bassist Mark Sandman. but they recorded cocoon music for the album in 1998 with producers Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade in sessions preceding those for his last album, 2000’s. the night. Kolderie worked with Sandman’s life partner Sabine Hrechdakian to transfer and remix the tapes in 2023. Saxophonist Dana Colley also added new sax parts to three of the album’s songs.
The title track, released Thursday, begins with the baritone sax dominating a slow beat that paves the way for Sandman’s lyrics: «Come into my cocoon, no one comes in but you.» The song is jazzy and evokes nights in smoky clubs. The group’s signature sense of space, space for sax, Sandman’s voice and sweet ears like acoustic guitar, echoing cymbals and distant piano, and their uniquely relaxed sense of melody take center stage on the song.
«Mark loved performing and traveling the world, but he also loved coming home and sheltering in place,» Hrechdakian said in a statement. «It was our house and their studio, so there was always music, tapes on, friends stopping by at all hours, lots of food. The lyrics talk about the difficulties of being away from loved ones while the band was on tour and the joy of returning home. There’s also this thread of space travel that runs throughout the album, so I imagine the cocoon as a kind of spaceship for two leaving the world and returning to it.»
He Cocoon In the sessions, Morphine played on different instruments, including piano and drums from friends and collaborators. But Sandman abandoned the sessions when he reoriented the band for what would become the night.
Songs in Cocoon It came out in different forms on bootlegs and on the 2004 compilationsandboxbut this version presents them differently. “Going back to these recordings years later was a surreal experience,” Colley said of adding new parts to the songs. “It was like having one foot in the past and one in the present, with my saxophone bridging the gap.”
In the decade between Morphine’s founding and Sandman’s death, the group released four albums (not counting the nightwhich came out posthumously). Their 1993 album, Cure for painbecame an independent hit thanks to college radio adopting the title song, “Buena” and “Thursday.” Their songs appeared in the film. Spanking the monkey and, more recently, the television series. Beef and Euphoria.
The statement also includes never-before-published photographs and notes by essayist Hanif Abdurraqib.
Cocoon Track List
1. “Tomorrow”
2. “Wig”
3. «Patience»
4. “Astronaut Charm”
5. «Justina»
6. “Moons of Jupiter”
7. «Cocoon»
8. «Pretty face»
