Dear friends,
I hope your summer is off to a lovely start. I say this every year, but 2026 in particular feels like it is moving so quickly I’m having trouble hanging on to each moment. Maybe this feeling is heightened because I have teenagers in the house, and I know these moments together are fleeting.
Last winter, amid the seasonal darkness of the Pacific Northwest, I began writing a song about summer in Seattle. It actually ended up being a song about Seattle and New York City — two cities I’ve lived in for more than a decade — and what happens to the places we call home, and the people who were there with us.
“The Sound” is out now — you can give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever you stream your music.
Every creative project evolves from a first kernel. This recording grew into a collaboration with some of my favorite artists in both Seattle and New York City. The song took shape with my new live band, the Strong Arms; we played it at our first show together at Tim’s Tavern in January. The band includes drummer Scott Holland and two Seattleites by way of New York, guitarist Tim Mitchell and bassist Lauren Stockner.
I brought the arrangement to New York producer nickspat, who I’ve been lucky enough to work with on my last two songs. Then I shared it with my vocal coach, the brilliant NYC R&B artist Sophie Said, who was kind enough to contribute background vocals and harmonies to the end of the song.
Jonathan Jetter mastered the track, and Tim Aguero shot the cover art, featuring me and my favorite chihuahua down at Alki Beach in West Seattle.
There is no better feeling than creating something with other artists who take it to new and greater places. Thank you to everyone who played a part. If you’d like to hear it live, the Strong Arms will be back at Tim’s Tavern in Seattle on August 26. Save the date.
“The Sound” is my third single as a solo artist. I first wrote about rediscovering my voice in midlife for Sari Botton‘s Oldster Magazine. This week, Sari invited me to sing and tell a story at Oldster Magazine’s Gen X night at Sid Gold’s Request Room in NYC. It was an incredible evening, getting to perform R.E.M.’s “Nightswimming” with piano player Paul Leschen, and alongside writers I admire but hadn’t previously met IRL: Alexander Chee (who told this deeply moving story), Alexandra Auder, Kera Bolonik, Blaise Allysen Kearsley, Emily Gould, Dustin Schell, Brian Macaluso, Amanda Chemeche, and Vivian Manning-Schaffel, among many others.
To top it all off, I walked out of the bar at the end of the night and Knicks fans were pouring into the streets, celebrating a Game 4 comeback win.
From Seattle (and NYC), thanks for listening.
-Mark