Mighty Mystic Talks New Album Enter the Mystic

Messages of peace, love, perseverance, and harmony shine bright through the music of reggae star Mighty Mystic.

Born in Jamaica as Kevin Mark Holness, Mystic has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in his genre—including Damian Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Steel Pulse, and Sean Paul—and his first three albums Wake Up World, Concrete World, and The Art of Balance achieved international recognition, all reaching the Billboard Top 10 Reggae chart.

Currently based in Massachusetts, Mystic just released his fourth studio album Enter the Mystic, and he sat down with Musical Notes Global to talk all about it. Check out the full interview below.

MNGBlog: Congratulations on your new album Enter the Mystic! What does this album represent for you?

Mighty Mystic: Thank you so much. It represents growth. When I was younger I always thought to myself what would it take to have a globally recognized album. And now that I have one in Enter The Mystic I can appreciate the struggle, the journey, the good and bad that it took to get to this point. And that is special, that is growth! Growth in all aspects of the word, musical, physical, mental, spiritual and I feel that my fan base has grown with me sharing the evolution of what I represent as an artist.

MNGBlog: How do you think it's different from or similar to your previous albums? Do you explore any new themes or ideas?

MM: I went into this album with a concentrated focus on making the album sound like a big Hollywood motion picture. Something theatrical, something epic and I think we nailed it. This album has a big sound to it, where it sounds triumphant like end of days type stuff. And that's just the production side of things that we haven't even touched on the lyrical content! The lyrical aspect is heavy and deep. Lots of universal messages that all people can relate to no matter where they are from or what their background is. But its done in a tasteful way not overbearing or preachy. It's very melodic, catchy and kicks like 10 Bruce Lee's.

MNGBlog: Can you talk a little about the single "Salt"? How did you come up with the concept for the music video?

MM: Well the concept of "Salt" is metaphorically based. I remember as a kid seeing the old folks sprinkling salt on snails and slugs that would crawl on the stairs and they would shrivel up as a result. So I took that principle and used it as throwing salt on your enemies or those who want to see you fail. The video follows suit...Throwing salt on the snail who is trying to ransack my life.

MNGBlog: Did you learn anything new while creating Enter the Mystic?

MM: Most definitely. Many things! But one of the key things that I learned was that I'm capable of producing a full length album without lots of outside help. This was the first album where I did 90% of the production and that makes me happy it really shows growth and self trust.

MNGBlog: How do you think it speaks to today's world?

MM: Great question! I think it’s very timely. Every song was written with today's world issues in mind. Check out "False Trumpet" which is a politically based song talking about the proposed Building of a Wall by current president Donald Trump. "Rock A Bye" is a song about a mother losing her son to street violence. Or "Jumper" which is a song talking about the high suicide rate and how we can prevent it. So with those in mind, you see that this album is very global and touches on universal issues.

MNGBlog: What track are you most excited about, or which track means the most to you? Why?

MM: That's a tough one to answer. Several to be exact! But I will say this...I wrote the chorus to "Tribe Say" when I was still in High School so to be able to finally finish it all these years later is a very special feeling to me. It took a deeper understanding of the subject within "Tribe Say" to finally be able to complete that song. It's a song about the Native Americans struggle that took place here in America. It's worth a listen!

Stream Enter the Mystic below.