snapshot of weekend one at @aclfestival // thank you to everyone who came out and welcomed us back after seven years
📸 credit unknown so hit me with the handle and i’ll update it
Today marks the release of Paradise State Of Mind.
This album was made coming out of a vulnerable and introspective period of my life. It was a purging. Catharsis expressed through frequency and poem. Through all chapters in my life, I have tried to be an optimist. I try to cling to hope even when my surroundings feel like absolute darkness. Remembering that the absence of color is a feeling, not a fact.
This album is equally a conversation with The Divine, as it is with the most flawed and human version of myself. To me, “Paradise State Of Mind” represents perception - something I have been mindfully working on as I have continued my deep walk through sobriety. What I have found through this exploration is that it’s so human to feel like we are alone in the universe grasping at our desire for value, as we try to define the purpose of our very existence. It’s easy to get lost down that rabbit hole and slip into cynicism.
The thing that has anchored me through those feelings of isolation has been forming a deeper spiritual connection with what I like to think of as The Great Creator - the voice that’s precedes every other voice. The beginning. From the code that’s woven in our DNA, to the cellular symmetry in life throughout earth, to the laws of physics that create order in the chaos of the universe. There is beauty all around us, and when we tune ourselves to focus on it, it increases in size and clarity.
There are so many people that helped make this record come to life. They are all thanked in our liner notes. To each and every one of you, I express my deepest gratitude. It was an absolute joy to get to create with you.
Isom, my brother. This album exists because of you. You are a genius and one of the purest souls I have ever met. I am deeply honored to make music with you.
Julia, you are my heart. This album wouldn’t exist without you. You are my best friend, my creative muse, and my soul mate. I am so lucky to get to share my life with you.
To everyone else, this record was made with a lot of love. I hope you can receive it in the same spirit that it was made.
Sincerely,
Mark Foster
