Morphine Dust Off Archival Recordings, Add New Baritone Sax Parts for ‘Cocoon’ — SkimNews
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- Morphine will release 'Cocoon' on Dec. 4, an album built from 1998 studio sessions that vocalist-bassist Mark Sandman abandoned when he refocused the band for what became their final album, 2000's 'The Night.'
- Producer Paul Q. Kolderie and co-producer Sean Slade recorded the original 'Cocoon' sessions in 1998, and Kolderie returned in 2023 to transfer and remix the tapes with Sandman's life partner Sabine Hrechdakian.
- Saxophonist Dana Colley added new baritone sax parts to three songs on the album, describing the experience as 'having one foot in the past and one in the present, with my saxophone bridging the gap.'
- The title track was released Thursday, opening with a baritone-sax-dominated groove over Sandman's lyric: 'Come on in to my cocoon, no one comes in except for you.'
- Several 'Cocoon' songs previously circulated on bootlegs and the 2004 compilation 'Sandbox,' but the source notes this release presents them in newly remixed form with Colley's fresh contributions.
- The album includes never-before-published photos and liner notes by essayist Hanif Abdurraqib, and features eight tracks including 'Tomorrow,' 'Spaceman Charm,' and 'Moons of Jupiter.'
Why it matters: For fans, this is Morphine's first album-length release since Sandman's 1999 death — the band's brief original run produced four studio albums, with the posthumous 'The Night' already accounting for a fifth. Colley's new overdubs and Kolderie's 2023 remix give the 1998 tapes a present-day finish without overdubbing Sandman's vocals, preserving his final studio performances intact.
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