ZACK ROSEN Circles

For years, my friend Connor (aka Tongues Unknown) would tell me about a musician he knew named Zack Rosen, who wrote what he said were some of the best songs he’d ever heard. People gas up their friends all the time so at first I didn’t pay much mind. I even met Zack once at a show but hadn’t heard any of his songs so I didn’t have much to say. I wish I had because looking back I realize it would’ve been a rare chance to speak with a truly brilliant artist.

Zack’s songs are astonishing and original. He has a peculiar, poetic, and playful mind. His chords and words never let you settle for long—taking a surprise turn here, an about-face there, yet it never feels jarring; you’re always left pleasantly surprised. His world is both familiar and strange. His music is infused with fantasy and surrealism, yet it is always grounded by genuine emotion and real life experience. The only artists I can even loosely compare him to are Syd Barrett, and Tamerlane Phillips, (son of John Phillips), both of whom, like Zack, struggled with mental illness. I think Einstein said something about genius and insanity and there being a fine line between them…

Eventually Connor started telling me that Zack was acting differently. He started smoking several cigarettes at once and it was affecting his voice. He seemed disoriented, disconnected, and more inwardly focused than usual. I could tell that the people around him felt helpless and didn’t know what to do. I remember saying he reminded me of my friend Tamerlane, a brilliant songwriter who had wrestled with similar demons. The brain of another human being is perhaps the most inaccessible place there is. I don’t know what was going on with Zack, but for whatever reason he wasn’t able to remain in this world, and tragically chose to leave it. He left behind an incredible catalogue of music, much of which was unknown to even his closest friends and family.

I can tell you from personal experience that life has a way of blending beauty and tragedy together into a kind of pain-love continuum; you never get much of one without the other. Zack’s story is as wonderful as it is horrendous, as terrible as it is joyful. In a way that could be said about any of us I guess, so in that sense his music speaks for everyone.

I feel lucky to be a part of bringing these songs out into the world. When you listen to them I know you’ll feel lucky too.

Sean Ono Lennon

July 2021