Typhoon’s Music of Sickness, Death, and Healing
“The Songs of Sickness can become the Songs of Healing”1
Kyle Morton’s Battle With Lyme Disease
Typhoon is a rock band out of Portland, Oregon known for their powerful songs performed by twelve members and many instruments. Lead singer Kyle Morton influences many of these powerful lyrics. Kyle, now 27 years old, battled and nearly lost his life to Lyme Disease as a child. He had multiple organ failures and had a kidney transplant with a kidney donation from his father. Now as an adult, Kyle “feels like he is living on borrowed time” and “past his expiration date.” Therefore, in writing lyrics for Typhoon’s music, “he thinks about his mortality a lot.” These songs have “uplifting melodies,” but underneath these melodies are much darker lyrics. It is through this music that one can find Kyle Morton’s “sincere appreciation for the gift of life.”2
Influence on Song Writing
In an interview with The Daily Emerald, Kyle Morton describes the writing process as “trying to figure out what it means to be sick and what it means to be healthy.”3 In a separate interview, he says that in performing these songs with twelve other people on stage, “the songs of sickness can become the songs of healing.” Kyle discusses how Lyme Disease affected his childhood and how it has created a lot of bitterness in his life. As a child, he imagined plans that he wanted for his life, and then the Lyme Disease changed those plans and he had to adapt. He says that he didn’t have the life of a normal child because of this disease and the pain.1
Lyrics
One will recognize many of these themes in Kyle Morton’s songwriting. On a former record the song “Summer Home,” references “a bug that bit [him].” Kyle describes this bug as a “beast,” and as a “thing that affects your life” without ever seeing it. This bug is a symbol of “when you first realize that some of these promises you have, assume or take for granted that you deserve it, and that’s a pretty sobering moment.” The song “Sickness Unto Death” explicitly draws one’s attention to Kyle’s ability to transform his thoughts of Lyme Disease and mortality into a powerful song. 1
Learn more about Kyle Morton and Typhoon by visiting their website.
Citations:
1. Browne, Heather. “The Songs of Sickness Can Become the Songs of Healing”: The Typhoon Interview.” I am Fuel, You are Friends. Fuel/Friends LLC, 13 Mar 2012. Web. <http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2012/03/13/the-songs-of-sickness-can-become-the-songs-of-healing-the-typhoon-interview/>.
2. Boiled, Bob. “First Listen: Typhoon, ‘White Lighter’.” First Listen. NPR: 4 Aug 2013. Web. <http://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/207905137/first-listen-typhoon-white-lighter>.
3. Pittenger, Tommy, and Thomas Fury. “Emerald Q&A with Typhoon’s Kyle Morton.” Daily Emerald [Oregon] 4 March 2012. Web. <http://dailyemerald.com/2012/03/04/typhoon-makes-a-splash-at-wow-hall-a-q-and-a/>.
