Day 6: Forever Dolphin Love

Dolphins are amazing, mythical creatures. I can't prove anything scientifically, but I'm pretty sure I was visited by the greek God Apollo in the form of a dolphin during a sunkissed trip to Ancient Florida back on Bastille Day 2016. Another person with a deep affinity for dolphins is New Zealand singer Connan Mockasin, whose 2011 debut album is called "Forever Dolphin Love." The title track is a jazzy, mystical journey that sounds as if it was either recorded or produced underwater. The music video is incredible, a splash of puppetry and high theater, comedic on first glance but also unblinkingly serious in its depiction of romantic—or perhaps spiritual—obsession. I listened to it on a November drive to the woods outside Baldwin City, Kansas, a region with a history of secret psychedelic gatherings that few of us have heard about, much less attended. Listening to the entire album, which apparently Connan only released after his mom encouraged him to do so, is like being in a sustained musical trance, calming but also uplifting, like there's a mysterious force driving it forward. Dolphins, maybe. Or love. Or both. Forever and ever.