Music for Mushrooms, a new documentary by East Forest, is getting a limited theatrical release this fall, with special one-night screenings slated in cities across California, Washington, New Mexico, and other US states in October and November. The film then goes to Sweden, Hawaii, and Canada towards the end of the year, with fans having the option of requesting additional screenings in their hometowns.
Several years in the making, Music for Mushrooms turns the spotlight towards the important role that music plays in psychedelic therapy. The film charts the journey of East Forest as he cultivates his practice of playing music for psychedelic journeys, while interviewing experts and collaborators about why these soundtracks play such a critical role in transformation and healing.
Born Trevor Oswalt, the Idaho-based musician was a close collaborator of Ram Dass’, and recorded an album of the spiritual leader’s teachings in a 2019 album. Songs from that album are regular features of Oswalt’s “ceremonial concerts,” public events where the musician plays improvised ambient sets meant to guide his audiences on their psychedelic journeys.
“Once I started writing music for mushrooms, everything changed,” Oswalt says in the film. “The mushrooms had been my muse.”
The documentary aims to flip the traditional script around psychedelic therapy, where music is often cast off to the sidelines. Through his own experiences and interviews with a range of experts, Oswalt drills into how music serves as an emotional anchor and has historically been seen as a connecting thread from earthly to spiritual dimensions. In this era of psychedelic decriminalization and legalization, Owalt proposes that music could also be the most accessible way to create safe containers for psychedelic healing.
“I really believe that music is the most democratized tool, and the best way for us to scale psychedelic therapy in an effective way,” the musician explained in the Beckley Waves’ Trip Report podcast. “Not everyone is going to a clinic or fancy retreat. If they can just hit play on a record, [the music can provide] safety and good mindset… I’ve seen the power of music as a guide. I think it’s the thing.”
READ: Psychedelic Group Therapy Is More Powerful Than One-on-One Sessions
Music For Mushrooms stars a range of experts, such as Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, one of the leading scientists at the intersection of music and psychedelics, and Dr. Leor Roseman, a prominent psychedelic researcher at Imperial College London. In addition to sitting down with these researchers, Oswalt interviews Peruvian Andean medicine woman Xóchitl Ashe, and
fellow psychedelic musicians such as Jon Hopkins, Peter Broderick, and ANNA. In a conversation with Julian Treasure, a sound expert who gave a Ted Talk titled “How to Speak so People Want to Listen,” Treasure tells Oswalt: “The moment you start listening consciously, you can take responsibility for the sound you consume. That activity is very important in a world that is trying to grab our attention at every possible moment. This is how we can say, no, I’m here, I’m in the moment.”
Check out the trailer below, and check the Music for Mushrooms website to see if the documentary is coming to a city near you.
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