HAT by i am the mackerel

What's happening here?

A hat, just a normal hat (you can see it, slightly disturbed, parked on a globe on the cover,) appeared, one day, out of the blue, in our sun room. Maybe it came out of the black of the night, maybe out of the gray of dusk, the morning white of winter. It appeared and was remarked upon and ultimately left there, on the end table in the sun room. No one was sure who it belonged to.

A month later I received a selfie from an ex-coworker, smiling, in his car. He was wearing the hat. I live very far away from the this man. Half the country away. We worked together in a remote manner. After seeing the picture I walked into the sun room and found the hat, donned it, and sent him a selfie. We laughed. In texts, I mean. Little circles of mirth.

A week later a social media account showed me a picture of my sister-in-law. She was wearing the hat. In her car.

This hat now appears on everyone. I know this can't be real, or true. Despite it's being the year 2025, therefore odd, therefore true, THIS thing, it seems, is out of joint with that reality. This existence of the same hat on the head of every person I ever see now is obviously some sign of something. Nothing's black and white, or blue and gray, though. You know that. This is not a case where I'm simply hallucinating, or where everyone's just actually wearing that same hat. This is something in the middle of those things. This is a sign to me.

You'll see in that cover image that there's a badge on the hat. That's the sign of the order of the sideways moon. You'll find out more about that if I ever release the halaka album that was (essentially) finished back in 2023 called The Problem Eater.

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?

Everything is going to be fine. There were two microphones in the room and they recorded things into the machine. Another machine helped, some. Little blocks connected between each other and into other machines helped, too.

this one's on the house.

i am the mackerel is a loosely affiliated cult consisting of members of Halaka, Allele Cog Experiment, EGAC, Dead Children's Brigade, HOZ, The Orchestra of the Blow of the Hand, and others. They are releasing 87 albums in 2025, most of which will be available here.