THE PSYCHOPOMPS
The Psychopomps is a novel about Janzen Hakkinen, who is ready to end his life. At 29, sobriety, a job and medication have done little to divert him from this decision. And there is one building in Baltimore that has become a monument for those willing to scale its eleven stories to finally meet the concrete below.
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Once up top, Janzen's free fall is stolen from him after being abducted into the supposedly abandoned building by its reclusive owner, Wayland Selby. This man has collected a group of men and women who spend their days combating their past, fearing the present violence of a maniac and weighing the ultimate choice of how their stay together will end. There is one way in and one way out -- and it's not through the front doors.
"Characters in the book deal with issues ranging from isolation, addictions of all sorts, crippling school debt and the stresses of a mundane life. An odd sort of therapy then follows. I can claim to be privy to some or most of these topics. I spent years reluctant to share that I had intimate experience with rehab and that therapy was something helpful for me. But with the release of this book, I’ve gathered the nerve to come forward with this."
-SPB
Sean Patrick Byrne worked with Baltimore/Berkely-based musician Auden in scoring the reading of the first chapter of The Psychopomps. The author recorded the narration while Auden composed, arranged and edited the musical accompaniment spanning these15 individual tracks.​
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Listen here, or you can access this project and his other music on Bandcamp at this link.