Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Debuts ‘Farewell to Seasons’ Title Track, an Ode to Seattle’s Music Scene

Mike McCready rolled out his latest track “Farewell to Seasons” on Friday, the title track from his upcoming “lost” rock opera set for release on Dec. 1.

The single is the first release from the Pearl Jam musician’s Farewell to Seasons, which spans 11 new songs written and was recorded by “David Williams,” the fictional lead character in McCready’s accompanying graphic novel, which will be published by Z2. The track also debuted alongside a companion animated music video directed by Cyrus Entezam.

Developed over the last 20 years, McCready’s work will capture the people that fueled the Seattle music scene in the Eighties (and was heralded by a wave of college radio, fanzines, and indie distributors rallying around punk rock) as grunge exploded in the Nineties, forever changing the tight-knit community. “Farewell to Seasons unflinchingly shows the brutal cost it had for so many artists and musicians as it captures the lived experience of that seminal era,” reads a press release. “The glory and the heartbreak as it asks the unanswerable question… was it worth it?”

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In a statement, McCready previously said, “It’s a story I’ve been developing for many years, inspired by the creativity, community, and chaos of the Seattle music scene. I’ve had a great time bringing this project to life with Z2, and I hope people enjoy the journey as much as I did creating it.”

When detailing Farewell to Seasons, Z2’s Editor in Chief, Rantz A. Hoseley said, “Having been in the heart of the [Northwest] music scene as a journalist in the 1990s, I’ve wanted for years to work on a project that would reflect what it was actually like for the musicians and the fans when ‘the world came to Seattle.’ I can say, without any hyperbole or exaggeration, that I feel like my entire creative life has led to me being involved with this book, and I feel so blessed to be a part of bringing Mike’s beautiful and poignant story to the world.”