Myles Bullen. Photo by Violette Media
Myles Bullen is a Portland-based musician who stitches together words in a riveting, poetic way on his new album “Mourning Travels.”
A follow-up to last year’s “Healing Hurts,” the album will be out Friday on the Fake Four Inc. label. You can purchase it digitally or order it on lavender vinyl at fakefour.bandcamp.com, and it will be available on streaming platforms.
The rapper unravels the human condition by expressing barbed-wire agony while also extracting joyful hope. He is not afraid to reveal it all, starting immediately with the track “Hypothermic Anvil.”
“Death is deafening silence/But sounds like glass shatter/Like branches shaking/Like stuttering/Your words when you’re uncovering/Your hurt and it sucks,” Bullen says, starting gently then building to full-on angst.
“I’m No Meteorologist” squeaks and beeps with electronic pulses as Bullen speaks about navigating the forecast through an emotional lens: “Thought bubbles like cumulus clouds/Moving silently/Feelings don’t make a sound/North/East/South/West/On the weathervane/Time to celebrate!”
Bullen weaves in and out of anguish and serenity seamlessly. The song is one part therapy session and one part warm hug, and all the while, my head bops along as Bullen’s wisdom falls like tears – the sad and happy kind.
Myles Bullen’s “Mourning Travels” album cover. Artwork by Abbeth Russell
With a ukulele and simple keys, Bullen declares that the hardest lesson to learn is to love yourself with the track “Somewhere Else.”
“I tried meditating/End up self-hating/I keep falling out/I sit in a place in silence/Wishing/I was somewhere else.” It’s like a prayer that you repeat until you’ve internalized it.
“Roses & Rain” is a vibrant jam featuring Hannah Harleen, who sings about life’s ups and downs with gorgeous vocals. This gives way to Bullen rapping about one friend’s suicide and another’s death by overdose.
At the heart of “Roses & Rain” is the notion that humans are built to endure unspeakable grief: “There’s beauty in our sadness/Heart shatters to a thousand pieces/But that’s just more pieces to love with,” says Bullen, with Harleen repeating the words. This is the kind of song that reaches through your rib cage to sprinkle gold glitter on your heart.
“Mourning Travels” has 13 tracks, and other guests artists on it are Jesse the Tree, Billy Woods, Tark, Sarah Violette and Emma Ivy. Half of the album was crafted and engineered with John Zebley in Lewiston. The other half was, as Bullen put it, “spontaneously crafted” in various rooms of his apartment with an iPhone SE.
The album’s liner notes contain a manifesto of sorts about “Mourning Travels.” I’ll leave you with my favorite excerpt:
This album is for the adopted adventurer
The journey that chose you
The path of most resistance
The least understood
The miracle of suffering
And the possibility of reaching utopian destinations
Myles Bullen “Mourning Travels” Release Show
With guests Emma Ivy, Ceschi and Jesse the Tree
Doors at 6:30 p.m. March 26. Space Gallery, 538 Congress St., Portland, $15. space538.org
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