Gay Meat, the project of North Carolina’s Karl Kuehn, leads a life of intention. Raised in the small seaside town of Southport, NC, Karl and his beloved mom Karen built a vivid life together. It’s been just the two of them since Kuehn was 11 - their days colored by late-night coffee chit-chats, tv binging, music and more.

In 2018, everything changed. Karen suffered six grand mal seizures that left her brain permanently damaged, and Kuehn’s life shifted toward caring for his mom. Their fiery, free-flowing world quickly narrowed. Though doctors gave Karen anywhere from a week to a year to live, she didn’t pass away until January 2021.

That time became a gift, one that allowed Kuehn to know the person behind the parent. Across three years marked by a hurricane, a pandemic, and a life upended, he found solace the only way he knew how: picking up any instrument within reach and piecing together their story. Blue Water is his debut album under his moniker Gay Meat, a record that gently, lovingly says goodbye to his mom.

Piecing together the sepia patchwork of memories through a child’s eyes, the album’s 13 tracks were written alone, chronicling the anticipatory grief and the immediate aftermath of loss. Friends including Jeff Rosenstock, Chris Farren, Sarah Tudzin (illuminati hotties), Lamont Brown (RNIE), and Taylor Haag lent their vocals and instrumentation across the record, with production from Brett Scott and Alex Thompson.