Songs for the Synaesthesia Issue (A Selection)

A selection of songs that have marked this era of fluid warmth, the soundtrack to which we’ve been dreaming a bright new thing into breath.

"The essential mystery of things is sometimes best articulated by their own organic resonances." (Ryan Griffith on Synaesthesia)

The artist’s dictum “trust your materials” only started to make sense in collage, with strange fabrics and colors and patterns coalescing in startling meaning.

Literature, Music, Personal EssayGuestJune 21, 2021Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Andre Breton

"Maybe there’s a world where feeling is the same as knowing." (Sunny Vuong on Synaesthesia)

But for three minutes and 23 seconds, that magic stretch of a song where my poem lives as both love letter and record player, synaesthesia is more like a bridge.

Music, Film, LiteratureGuestJune 15, 2021Sunny Vuong, Frankie Valli, Gil Junger, Heath Ledger

IX: Synaesthesia | Searchlight Song: "Green Light"

I only noticed the color by how it happened to me; from where I stood, I was surrounded by a forest of light.

Columns, Personal Essay, MusicErin Jin Mei O'MalleyJune 10, 2021Lorde, searchlight song, King Princess, Mitski, girl in red

Preorders are Open for Issue IX: Synaesthesia

Half Mystic returns in full colour—welcome, dear songbirds, to the preorder period for the synaesthesia issue.

Announcements, MusicTopaz WintersMay 28, 2021Sara Elkamel, J.I. Kleinberg, Paola Bennet, Lucy Hannah Ryan, Caroline Grand-Clement, myself, Kirsten Shu-ying Chen, Ryan Griffith, Erin Jin Mei O’Malley, Grace Qi Song, Sunny Vuong, Anne Kwok, Janelle Cordero

Ode to the Gothic Heroine (A Selection)

Our heroine keeps walking, and we follow, unseen ally, shadow of hope, anticipating the thrills and horrors lying in wait.

Literature, Music, SelectionsAmrita ChakrabortyApril 28, 2021k.d. lang, Orla Gartland, Susanne Sundfør, The National, Soap&Skin, Agnes Obel, BANKS, Hayley Williams, Bat For Lashes, Daphne du Maurier, Maggie Rogers

“The process of crafting a song connects me to the world.” (An Interview With Ashley Eriksson of LAKE)

As a non-religious person, songwriting is the closest thing I have to a spiritual practice.

Interviews, MusicKate WilsonMarch 16, 2021Ashley Eriksson, Eli Moore, LAKE, Prefab Sprout, Stephen Steinbrink, Karl Blau, Lee Scratch Perry, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Allen Ginsberg

You Are Believed / A Statement on Plagiarism by a Half Mystic Author

Half Mystic is committed to upholding the highest standards of originality, integrity, & literary citizenship in our authors & the work we publish.

Announcements, Music, LiteratureTopaz WintersMarch 1, 2021Rona Wang, Christina Qiu

Saturday, February 20th: A Celebration of Half Mystic Radio

This is the final season of Half Mystic Radio. As we wrap up the series, we want to celebrate this magnificent thing we made with you.

Music, Radio, GatheringsTopaz WintersFebruary 9, 2021Ben Togut, Paola Bennet, Anthony Thomas Lombardi, Logan February, John the Rabbit, Stephanie Dogfoot, Topaz Winters

Half Mystic Radio, Season II, Episode VIII: I Promise I Exist

Featuring Davon Clark’s “For Rappers with Colored Beads” and “I Want a God Whose Heaven is Golden”, and Chok Kerong’s “A Sweeter Sound”.

Radio, Music, LiteratureTopaz WintersFebruary 1, 2021Stephanie Dogfoot, Davon Clark, Chok Kerong