Mark Lipman’s newest musical offering comes from a decades-long mental health journey of trying to make sense of the strange and unusual experiences of his early twenties—falling in love, spiritually awakening, the dangerous power of hubris and the stark disillusionment that followed. He describes the collection as “songs I wish my 23-year-old self could have heard.” In his first full-length album, Mark peers through the eyes of Icarus, his own dream characters, and other voices in an effort to find more humanizing stories than those he was told to believe by the Western psychological world, the world in which he also happens to work as a therapist. His album asks us to suspend our preconceived notions of the pathologizing language of Western psychiatry and to see the healing value that comes from supporting someone in their journey to fully integrate their experiences into their own story—and in their own words.

As much as we can find a sense of empowerment within ourselves, it also helps to have a community of people support and encourage us on that journey, witnessing and reflecting what we value, even when we have a hard time seeing it. The Hearing Voices Network (HVN) has played a key role in Mark’s journey, and because of that, this album release show will be a benefit show for their cause. You can find out more about the HVN’s work at www.hearingvoicesusa.org.