“Some songs I write quickly without really thinking at all—and this is one of them,” says Bay Area psych popsmith Luke Sweeney. “There’s no right-brain interference between my stream of consciousness and the page.”
About as unfiltered as it gets, “The Mercy Mile” was written in a single night by lamplight, with passing trains as the only distraction. It’s the latest single from Novel Tea, Sweeney’s fifth full-length, available Friday via Yours Unruly Unlimited. With roots in San Francisco’s garage-rock scene of the 2010s, Sweeney earned high marks for 2022’s Rishi, funneling his grief over the loss of a baby daughter into a mesmerizing panacea of synth washes, jazzy textures and Eastern influences acquired during his travels in India. “The Mercy Mile” leans more toward the nimble, warmly nostalgic ’70s-inspired craftsmanship of previous releases.
“It contains images, observations and feelings from two lives—my dream life and my waking life,” says Sweeney. “They intertwine in a ghost-like dance that hopefully leaves the room with a new light and a little bit of inspiration to live unedited: raw, emotional, honest and free.”
We’re proud to premiere Luke Sweeney’s “The Mercy Mile.”
—Hobart Rowland
See Luke Sweeny live.
