In 1999, Morphine, the Boston outfit renowned for its sheer coolness and enduring underappreciation, met its end in the most abrupt and heartbreaking fashion a band can endure: vocalist Mark Sandman collapsed and died during a live performance in Italy. The group nevertheless managed to release one final record, The Night, issued in 2000 and finished before Sandman’s death. And now, a new Morphine album looms, assembled from the late-night tapes and sketches Sandman left behind.
The forthcoming Cocoon album is drawn from a trove of unfinished sessions Mark Sandman laid down with long-time Morphine collaborators Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade during the final years of his life. Kolderie and Sandman’s partner, Sabine Hrechdakian, sifted through those reels and fashioned them into a completed record. Dana Colley, a member of the band, added fresh saxophone parts to several tracks. Some of these songs — including the lead track — had already appeared in various forms on the 2004 double disc Sandbox: The Music Of Mark Sandman. And today we’re hearing a Morphine track that has never before seen release in any format.
The track “Spaceman Charm” was laid down in 1998, a quintessential example of the band’s sly, moody blend of jazz and rock that once gave Morphine its magnetic charge. It features one of Colley’s newly recorded saxophone lines; however, the piano-felt texture remains so faithful to the original that the new part isn’t obviously audible by ear, and it could just as easily belong on a record like Cure For Pain. Colley explains:
I struggled at first with what to add to “Spaceman Charm.” These recordings had been set aside when we moved on to what became The Night, and coming back to them all these years later felt like resuscitating something from the past. With Paul Kolderie’s guidance, I began experimenting with different saxophones and bass clarinet, finding ways to build on what Mark had recorded. Ultimately, it was a sense of completion, finally finishing something we’d started together nearly three decades ago.
Check it out below.
Cocoon is out 12/4 on Partisan.
