NASHVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES, July 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Noah C. Lekas defies easy categorization—he’s a poet, singer, rock band member, and mailman. After a seven-year hiatus, he makes his return with FLOWERS OF PERENNIAL DISSENT, a poetry album and chapbook that chronicles six supervised psychedelic therapy sessions he underwent while recovering from a lengthy, nearly fatal illness. This work is not a standard memoir or typical poetry recording; instead, it offers a unique narrative experience: a firsthand exploration of ego death, healing, mysticism, and the challenge of coming to terms with life’s often remarkable moments.
While Lekas' well-received first collection SATURDAY NIGHT SAGE offered a series of blue-collar poetic snapshots, FLOWERS OF PERENNIAL DISSENT takes a more organized narrative path. It brings together musicians Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars, The Black Crowes), Charlie Parr (Minnesota country-blues artist), Anthony Pirog (guitarist and frontman of the jazz-punk group The Messthetics), Ethan Miller (Comets On Fire, Howlin’ Rain), and James Toth (Wooden Wand), who turn each piece into a spoken-word psychedelic folk record.
At the core of FLOWERS OF PERENNIAL DISSENT lies the inquiry of what it means to reconstruct a life and identity after the foundations that once held them have crumbled. For Lekas, ego death enabled him to face disorder, embrace uncertainty, and discover how to progress: “Ego death starts with the introduction of chaos,” Lekas explains, “and then that radical acceptance idea of, like, how do you not give up on your dreams and the things you love without living in delusion?”
To bring the six poems to life musically, Lekas called on Luther Dickinson, Charlie Parr, Anthony Pirog, Ethan Miller, and James Toth. “I had my thirty or so pages of notes, and then I contacted each musician who I had met or known, whether through writing or through music over the years […] I had had some personal connection with everyone on the record.”
Lekas gave each musician free rein to interpret his work as they wished. In a single paragraph, he provided “what happened, an introduction to the project, the title of the track, and a two to three sentence description of what it was about. I said, “Can you create a soundscape, a piece of music—whatever you want—that's this length?””
The outcome is a spoken-word album where each contributor turns the writer’s material into a distinct musical journey. Lekas describes the collaborative process as both thrilling and nerve-racking. “That part was intimidating, working with people who aren’t just peers, but people whose art I genuinely love. I'm a genuine fan of everybody on this record.”
Even though the album centers on mysticism, spirituality, and psychology, FLOWERS OF PERENNIAL DISSENT is by no means an academic treatise or a promotion for psychedelic therapy. Instead, the project strives to stay open to the mystery of the experience—for the artist and for listeners: “I'm not an academic, and I'm not a theologian,” Lekas says. “I'm a guy who had an experience, and wrote about it.”
FLOWERS OF PERENNIAL DISSENT is set for release on October 23, 2026, and will be available on vinyl, CD, streaming platforms, and as a limited edition chapbook. Click HERE to pre-order the album and chapbook today!
Read the full interview with Noah C. Lekas on the Blind Owl Records Website.
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