Toronto’s Stephen Callahan a.k.a. PROBLEM PATIENT was hospitalized with depression in February 2017. After a decade of failed treatments, Callahan underwent ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) after a 10-day hospital stay. During the months of his convalescence, Callahan composed Patient Problems his debut record under the name PROBLEM PATIENT.
PROBLEM PATIENT is a project of catharsis. In a culture that often stashes things away, PROBLEM PATIENT is release. Like mental illness, it is a project of simultaneous contradictions: death and laughter; rolling hills of hazardous waste; a dance party on a turbulent plane.
Patient Problems is a record for those of us who’ve been at war with our brains. It’s a record about not being able to get out of bed. It’s a record that sounds as wobbly, off-kilter and disorienting as the idea of putting 460V through the brain. And somehow, through all these layers of tar and voltage, it shines a light. Tiny, blue, slightly wavering – and gorgeous.
PROBLEM PATIENT is a project founded to heal its maker. It can heal the rest of us too. Patient Problems is out Oct. 31, 2018.