This compilation is the result of a game. Each participant suggested a theme, and our pilgrim drew them from a hat at random. Each theme was its own ticket to another world, pulling artists into new worlds and confronting them with new stories. Here, then, is evidence of those stories, retold in each artist’s individual style. Each chapter, its own forced march.

Look, now! The stone street beneath you swirls. A poison of your own choosing, or an accident? And then, on the horizon, flickerings of a catastrophic eruption to the west, even though Westward was always known to be flat. Then in your disorientation, the smells and sounds of an eastern city, but only steps away from you. Now you have a soul other than your own to care for - what shall you do with this responsibility? Last, you may be pulled from your body, a soul departed for a spirit realm while the body waits in a hazy place. These songs are pages, these pages are steps, and where shall these steps carry you.

released October 20, 2017