Formerly of the New York City band the Freshkills and most recently a best-selling ebook author (his book I Swear I’ll Make it Up to You is set to be released by a major publisher in 2016) Mishka Shubaly has just released his new album Coward’s Path. A ragged, cacophonous confessional record, its kitchen-sink approach, unflinching honesty, and gutter poeticism makes it come across as a weird hybrid of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and NYC punk rock. It’s cathartic, wryly humorous, and completely soulful, and absolutely worth a listen.
“Making another record like Coward’s Path would probably destroy me,” Shubaly says with typical candor. “I wrote and recorded the basics for these songs when drugs, alcohol and chaos ruled my life…so much so that I couldn’t finish the record. After I got sober, I didn’t know how to deal with these songs. The tapes sat in a corner of my room like a box of poisonous snakes; I didn’t know what would happen if those songs got loose. Then my writing took off– 6 bestselling Kindle Singles on Amazon– and I became immersed enough in a sober life to know those songs couldn’t hurt me. It’s a bizarre experience to listen to the fleshed-out versions now, with the perspective of six years of sobriety. Like ‘Wow, this guy is kind of an asshole… but he’s in tremendous pain. I hope he makes it through okay.’ It’s not me, but it’s me. I hope I never feel like that again.”