Utopia PKWY has released “Nothing Is Missing,” a song that explores the strange persistence of grief and the possibility of finding something beautiful within absence. Beckmann describes the song as, “Less a song than a philosophical hallucination, more like a midnight transmission from the far side of grief — where loss doesn’t disappear, it simply changes frequency and keeps humming beneath the skin.” The track is off their debut self-titled LP, which will arrive on September November 6 via DSPs

Utopia PKWY is the project of multi/artist John Beckmann, known as the creative force behind The Mortal Prophets. Debut, due November 6th, is the first full-length release under the Utopia PKWY name — a sunlit departure from the shadowed interiors of The Mortal Prophets. Written and produced entirely by Beckmann, the album explores themes of longing, reinvention, escape, youth, and surreal American romanticism.

Named in reference to Utopia Parkway, the Queens street associated with Surrealist artist Joseph Cornell, Utopia PKWY suggests a private universe assembled from memory, suburban light, damaged pop, and strange talismans. The music moves with the immediacy of a pop record while retaining the art-damaged intelligence of Beckmann’s broader catalog.

For this project, Beckmann steps away from the microphone entirely, handing vocal duties to Tanner McGraw and Lawson Mars, two collaborators he affectionately refers to as the “kids in the neighborhood.” Their voices bring freshness and emotional openness to Beckmann’s psychedelic architecture, giving the songs a sense of youthful motion and vulnerability.

FFO: Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive.

Utopia PKWY
Utopia PKWY
Tracklisting

1. I Knew You Were Trouble
2. Sleep In Moving Colors
3. Nothing Is Missing
4. If I Could Steal One More Kiss
5. You Talk Like Every Feeling
6. What Disappears
7. Come In Waves
8. Glitter And Doom
9. Fall Into You
10. Dreaming I’m A Rock Star

Pre-order Utopia PKWY HERE