MORPHINE 'COCOON' LP Pressed on Opaque Natural Vinyl

Boston's Morphine never fit a mold, even at the height of grunge. Two-string slide bass from Mark Sandman, his unmistakable voice, baritone & tenor saxophone courtesy of Dana Colley, and drums pared right back (Jerome Deupree, Billy Conway) — the trio called the result "low rock" and made it entirely their own. Morphine grew into one of the '90s most defining cult bands. Then in 1999 the story stopped short: Sandman suffered a fatal heart attack on stage during a concert in Italy.

What remains arrives more than 25 years on. Cocoon holds eight songs tracked during Morphine's late-'90s sessions, material Sandman eventually shelved as the band moved toward what would be their final album. The tapes were rediscovered in the band's archives decades later, and Sandman's life partner and Morphine estate manager Sabine Hrechdakian worked with producer Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Pixies) to transfer the originals and carefully assemble one unified collection of Morphine songs. New saxophone parts came from Dana Colley, and Kolderie then brought new mixes to the table. Call it demos if you like, but it doesn't play that way — here is a fully realized Morphine album, a band still pushing forward, that somehow waited nearly three decades to find its way into the world.