Sean Ono Lennon Compares Syd Barrett To Zack Rosen

Sean Ono Lennon sat down for an interview with Spin, discussing the late Zack Rosen, whose album ‘SYZYGY’ was posthumously released via Chimera Music Label last March. During the talk, the singer started comparing Rosen, who committed suicide after a battle with schizophrenia, and the former Pink Floyd member, Syd Barrett.

Pointing out the two musicians’ mental struggles and musical skills, Lennon said:

“Schizophrenic people often have a unique relationship to language. His imaginative use of words and chords made me think he might’ve been suffering from a mental illness. But that’s the thing about mental illness — it is incredibly complicated, and there are many sides to it. In Zack’s case, I do think his incredible creativity and originality were connected to that disease, very much like Syd Barrett. But I am also certain Zack would have been a brilliant songwriter if his illness had never manifested.”

Adding to his points, he went on as follows:

“I think there is a long history of creative genius mingling with madness. It’s hard to define, but it can be clear when you see it. There is a certain vibrance to Van Gogh’s greatest work, a certain freedom in the songs of Syd Barrett, that seems to have come from a creative source that was less bound by what you might call societal constraints.”

During the same interview, Connor Grant, who introduced Rosen to the GOASTT singer, also expressed his views on the comparisons between his late friend and Barrett. The guitarist shared:

“The Syd resemblance was just in how sweet his voice was and also how sweet the songs were – they were very deep harmonically, they were very complicated to analyze, but not to listen to. But they had this innocence to them as well.”

You can listen to one of Zack Rosen’s songs in the video below.