Upon listening to Connan Mockasin’s album for the first time, the strangest sensation overcame me…I smiled. This rarely happens, being the angsty young male that I am, but such was the power of this gorgeous music that it actually forced my lips to purse and raise into a grin for the first time in years. And as my lips rose, so did my body, and within moments I was being lifted from my chair. I was surprised for a moment, hovering two metres above ground, but only for a moment. The ascent continued – I flowed through the ceiling and any other solid material that got in my way, and within seconds I was floating out into the starlit sky and further, into midnight itself. The brisk air didn’t bother me, I just kept rising, onwards and upwards, into the galaxies, the heavens, the milkway above.

As I drifted through space I saw the faces of people I’d long forgotten amongst the stars. They looked at me and gave a tender smile, and told me that everything was going to be alright. As I floated past Venus there was a huge light, and out of this light came a unicorn, the most beautiful and majestic beast I’d ever seen. I climbed upon the unicorn’s back and together we drifted through the cosmos. As we rode it spoke to me, and it told me that skies are for flying, and that I should return his uniform. I asked why, but it did not respond. We glided for three eternities in silence before the unicorn told me it was time to go home. It arched its neck and started flying towards the earth. As we moved steadily towards the planet its gallop became slower and slower. And as we got closer, the sky got bluer, and as the sky got bluer the unicorn started to fade away. After a while it simply ceased to exist, and I began a silent tumble towards ground. Eventually, I found I had fallen back into my chair in my room.

I sat in still thought for eighteen minutes, surrounded by nothing but the sound of silence. I stood up and left my room; my friend told me that three days had passed. I chuckled and remarked that I thought it had been longer. When I returned to my room, I put the album back on, hoping to repeat the experience. This didn’t happen, but for the briefest moment during the ten-minute centrepiece/masterpiece, Forever Dolphin Love, I sensed a flicker in my body, and for an instant I felt true enlightenment and an enormous sense of wellbeing. And for that, Connan, I thank you.

Connan’s album, Please Turn Me Into The Snat, is out in New Zealand now, and it will be hitting the rest of the world in a big way soon when its released on Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label.

Connan Mockasin – It’s Choade My Dear (160)