Name: Mind Bath
Nationality: American
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current Release: Mind Bath's new album Aqueous, featuring Beverly Glenn-Copeland, is out via Lighter than Air.   
Hometown Recommendations: Fernie, BC - GET HIGH ON MOUNTAINS
Things that I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: S/O TO ALL MY DEAD LOVES. I don’t take it for granted that I feel so empowered to live this life on the edge, because I’m walking with guardian angels at all times.

If you enjoyed this Mind Bath interview, and would like to know more about his music, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and tiktok.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

I didn’t have much of a connection to writing anything when I was young. I was closeted. That’s hell. I had to give myself over to heaven. That’s when the downloads started.

The first real song I wrote was “Scorpio,” and I think you can hear all that lost time being reclaimed.



Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

Cultivating deeper listening.

Fine-tuning the communion with that voice inside telling you what it likes and what feels good. Distilling the message to its essence. Making things beautiful. 



What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics?

When I think of lyrics that hit me profoundly when I was super young, the first thing that comes to mind is Jagged Little Pill, and the bridges on Ashanti’s “Foolish” and Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor,” …



... which I interpreted on my first-ever single, “Bad Timing.”



Kurt Cobain too, and Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple, André 3000. I could go on forever.

Have there been song lyrics which actually made you change (aspects of) your life? If so, what do you think, leant them that power?

Music enlightened me spiritually and liberated me sexually before anything else did.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

Music, if made in the service of creativity (God/dess), comes straight from the source. F, G, Green, Blue, Heart, Throat.

The idea of a wave. Pure energy. Universality. 



What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

Everything I do is about freeing the mind, fighting for the counterculture, remaining in sync with the natural world, love, and gay sex.

On the basis of a piece off Aqueous, tell me about how the lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.

Well, my new album Aqueous was inspired by Aqueous, the novel I wrote it to accompany.

I had already finished writing the book when I started working on the album’s lyrics and melodies, so I had this perfect word garden waiting for me.

All of the lyrics on the album are taken straight from the book.

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

Oh, I have no idea how it all works. Airhead Mystic.

What sets the process in motion is showing up for your creative practice. That’s the work worth doing, always.

Sometimes I’m transmuting collective grief, sometimes I’m sampling Britney. Same, same.



I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

Become a master vibeologist. Then, everything you make will be consistent with the larger whole of the perfect vibe you’re creating.

Your work, your life, and the lives of others around you will be uplifted by said vibe, without too much thought given to details.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound“good”or“right”to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I think my melodies are more interesting when the words are written first and I then fit them into the music.

Ouri once took a freestyle of mine and built a whole song around it, and it sounds so uniquely beautiful, called “Odd or God.”



But also, pop songs with perfectly placed vowels and such are soooo delicious to sing.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

People are so emotionally generous with me. I hear all kinds of deeply personal interpretations from fans. I love them so much.

Misunderstandings, though? Well, I think, in human and song form, I can trigger people. I live in depth, resistance, genderfluid sexiness. That’s an intense vibe for conformists to reckon with.

A new insight for me is not taking that personally. It’s not a misunderstanding. I’m here to wake you tf up. 



Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I like to do everything slowly, with patience, outside of time. Something as simple as making your coffee a more “quick and efficient” process can really alter your brain chemistry.

Money game wants us to optimize and seek convenience. Healing wants us to savour. I actually approach making music and handling mundane tasks with a similar intention - to ritualize the process.

I love cleaning because of this. Music is more fun, though.