“Mythos”, much like all the other songs from this collection was born out of a lamentable acceptance that our ability to live truly free and prosperous lives as a whole, is slowly but surely being taken away from us and that much of what we have come to understand as “freedom” is mostly an illusion.
Right around the same time, a friend of mine played me a collection of prison work songs that completely resonated with the above sentiments. You know, those old Lomax brothers field recordings of the chain gangs singing work songs and spirituals and just about anything they could to take their minds off their hellish lives. Well, I think I must have somehow channeled that straight into this song when it appeared or maybe the song channeled it straight into me. Ah the mysteries of a song…It’s definitely an odd one for this band, as it’s our first to have no lyrics, yet somehow feels to me like it conveys something that perhaps words could not.
I distinctly remember the recording session for this one being a lot of fun. We had some friends hanging out in the studio so once the main tracks were recorded, we dug out the big box of shaky, tappy, whirly things and let everybody have at it.
The song came about back in 2018 or so but didn’t get a proper title until just this year. On a band trip to Greece of all places, there was a popular local beer called Mythos. It was everywhere and while drinking our fair share of it one day, someone threw it out there for the title, which we all immediately liked. In Greek, the word refers to an account, a story, or a tale, which is just perfect because I think about all the things that we’ve been told a lot and I just can’t help but wonder how this whole crazy thing might end.