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Premiere: Mark Mallman’s new song ‘The End is Not the End’

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by Mackenzie Martin

October 30, 2015

It's official: Mark Mallman has shared his new single, "The End is Not the End." The song is a preview of what's to come on Mallman's new album of the same name, set to be released in early 2016, which is being funded on Kickstarter.

Mallman has released seven studio records since 1998. Optimistic and high-energy, the new single is typical of the average Mallman live performance. This weekend, you can catch him headlining the coveted Halloween night show at the Turf Club with the Blind Shake, Pornonono, and 26 & the Bats!

According to Mallman, the album has been an ongoing project for the last three years since his most recent album, Double Silhouette, came out in 2012. On his Kickstarter page, he calls the album "the true account of facing my deepest fears, amid great despair, and forging the courage to overpower them through the power of music. It's a record bleeding with quivering synthesizers, frantic drums, and melting tape echo guitars."

The awards given to supporters of the album include a pre-official release digital download of the record, screen-printed signed posters, unreleased songs, the option to own one of his iconic vests, and even a trip to go bowling with Mallman himself ("you will probably beat me"). If you're feeling especially generous, a pledge of $10,000 will get you a 500-page handwritten memoir of his entire 2016.

Mallman's new album will be just the latest episode in a career that has been full of adventures, many involving his musical endurance. Four times throughout his career, Mallman has performed musical marathons, in which he has performed non-stop for up to 180 hours at a time. On his eight-day non-stop concert across the U.S. in 2012, he even hacked an EEG controller to convert his brainwaves into music through MIDI while he was sleeping. No one can say he isn't dedicated.

Mackenzie Martin is a podcast enthusiast and senior at Macalester College, where she majors in media & cultural studies.

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