Mara is the soon-to-be-released seven-inch from Agalloch bassist/Self Spiller mastermind, Jason W. Walton. Arranged during the summer months of 2013, Walton collected field recordings from places he would visit. He captured the din of humanity on the downtown Portland streets, the rush of ocean waves in Southern California, and the mysteriously comforting monologues emanating from an AM radio. During mid-2014, Walton manipulated and processed these sounds into disturbingly haunting pieces which would become the basis of Mara.

 

Walton decided to thematically compose these songs around his struggle with sleep paralysis - a phenomenon in which a person, either falling asleep or awakening, temporarily experiences an inability to move, speak, and react. Through self-imposed sleep deprivation, Walton recounted his episodes of paralysis within the two tracks contained in Mara. During his various episodes, Walton sometimes feels like he has some kind of spiritual connection or "visit" from lost loved ones. Shortly after first track, "Alp", was completed, Walton lost his stepfather unexpectedly. A few months later, shortly after track two, "Yakshi", was finished, Walton's dear friend and former Metal Maniacs editor, Katherine Ludwig, passed away. Although these two songs are not about these people, they are wholeheartedly dedicated to them making this an intensely personal work.

A new track from the release, “Alp”, is now streaming.

 

 

Mara was recorded at Earth in Sound Studios Portland, Oregon with vocals on "Yakshi" performed by Tanner Anderson (Obsequiae, Celestiial) and recorded at HammerHeart Brewing Company Lino Lakes, Minnesota. Mastered by James Plotkin (OLD, Scorn, Khanate, Khlyst) with design and layout by Agalloch's John Haughm, Mara will be unleashed on June 21 via Red Orchard Records on limited edition (300) 7” black vinyl housed in a deluxe black arigato sleeve featuring silver debossed artwork. Preorders are available through RedOrchardRecords.com. Each copy comes with a free download code.