Utopia PKWY Revisits Memory On “If I Could Steal One More Kiss”

I think one of the more interesting things about writing music from personal memories is how much those memories can change as you get older. You might remember a particular relationship, a conversation, or an afternoon with somebody you haven’t seen in years, but the version of that experience you carry around today probably has quite a different meaning than it did when it actually happened.

There’s something worth exploring there from a songwriting perspective, particularly when you’re trying to communicate the feeling of wanting to experience something again while knowing that you can’t. And I think that gets even more interesting when the music itself draws from older influences without trying to recreate the past exactly as it sounded.

That’s part of what songwriter and producer John Beckmann is exploring through Utopia PKWY, his new project following years of recording and experimenting under The Mortal Prophets. His debut album under the new name, appropriately titled Debut, arrives November 6, 2026, and introduces a brighter, more melodic approach to songwriting while retaining his interest in psychedelia, unconventional instrumentation, and experimental production. Beckmann wrote and produced the ten-track album but stepped away from lead vocal duties, bringing in Tanner McGraw and Lawson Mars to interpret the material.

The album’s focus track, “If I Could Steal One More Kiss,” explores the desire to revisit a personal memory, with its accompanying video arriving alongside a record that draws from psychedelic pop, synthwave, and the songwriting traditions of artists such as Syd Barrett and Robert Wyatt.

What interested me about Beckmann’s answers was how deliberately he’s approached the relationship between familiar songwriting and unusual production decisions. He talks about wanting to write music with recognizable melodies while introducing instruments that might initially seem out of place, and how bringing in other vocalists allowed him to reconsider songs he’d already written.

Watch “If I Could Steal One More Kiss” by Utopia PKWY

Interview With Utopia PKWY

1. What prompted you to create Utopia PKWY, and what did stepping away from the microphone allow you to explore?

I have no interest in making the same record indefinitely. The Mortal Prophets covers a lot of territory, but I wanted to follow this particular group of songs somewhere brighter—more melody, more romance, a bit of pop exuberance. I like a beautiful hook. I also like putting something slightly odd beside it and seeing what happens.

Utopia PKWY gave those songs a home. There’s still plenty of strangeness, but it comes with better lighting.

Having Tanner McGraw on lead vocals and Lawson Mars on backing vocals was a big part of that. I could write without considering how I would sing something. That’s quite freeing. Tanner brings a different character and emotional openness to the songs, and hearing someone else interpret a line can change your understanding of what you’ve written. It gave me more room to think as a songwriter and producer—to work on the melodies, harmonies, and the world surrounding the voice.

2. What do you connect with in Syd Barrett and Robert Wyatt, and where do you hear their influence on Debut?

They’re both wonderfully individual. You hear a few seconds and know whose world you’ve entered.

Barrett could write a melody that sounds almost like a nursery rhyme, then take a peculiar turn that changes everything. There’s wit in his work, but also tenderness and unease. I love how little he seems concerned with explaining himself.

Wyatt has that extraordinary voice and an ability to make quite adventurous music feel close and human. There’s an emotional directness that survives whatever unusual things are happening musically. That’s something I admire enormously.

Their influence on Debut is probably clearest in the attitude toward songwriting. You can be playful, eccentric, even a little absurd, and still write something affecting. I enjoy putting a straightforward melody among sounds that don’t necessarily belong together—a theremin, a sitar, a very synthetic keyboard. The pleasure is finding out whether they get along. Sometimes a little awkwardness makes the song more interesting.

3. What does nostalgia mean to you now, and how did you balance it with the album’s futuristic, psychedelic production?

I’m suspicious of the idea that everything was better in the past. I was there. Some of it was dreadful.

But a particular person, a room, a few seconds of music—those things can stay with you for decades. And you keep revising them. You remember something differently at sixty than you did at thirty. Your own life changes the memory.

“If I Could Steal One More Kiss” gets at that impossible wish for another moment with someone. A kiss is such a small thing to ask for, yet it can contain an enormous amount of longing. You might be missing the person, or who you were when you were with them. Often it’s difficult to separate the two.

The production lets those feelings move around. I’m drawn to familiar pop melodies, but I want to hear what happens when they meet synthetic sounds, strange textures, or something slightly disorienting. That combination suits the way memory works: something comes back very vividly, but parts of it are missing or have become completely exaggerated.

About Utopia PKWY’s Debut Album

Scheduled for November 6, 2026, Debut is the first full-length album from Utopia PKWY, the new recording project established by John Beckmann following his work with The Mortal Prophets. The ten-track release includes the earlier singles “I Knew You Would Be Trouble,” “Sleep In Moving Colors,” and “Nothing Is Missing,” alongside the focus track “If I Could Steal One More Kiss.”

The album introduces a different approach to Beckmann’s songwriting, placing greater emphasis on melodic pop arrangements and incorporating influences from psychedelic rock, dream pop, and synthwave. The production includes synthesizers, guitars, theremin, sitar, and other electronic instruments, with Beckmann responsible for writing and producing the material while Tanner McGraw performs the lead vocals and Lawson Mars contributes backing vocals.

Utopia PKWY takes its name from Utopia Parkway in Queens, New York, a street associated with Surrealist artist Joseph Cornell. That reference is consistent with Beckmann’s interest in memory, unusual imagery, and personal experiences that have acquired different meanings over time. Although the project represents a different musical direction from much of his work with The Mortal Prophets, his interest in unconventional instrumentation and experimental songwriting remains part of the new material.

“If I Could Steal One More Kiss” is the fourth track on Debut and addresses the desire to revisit a particular experience from the past. The subject fits into an album concerned with memory, relationships, personal change, and the way people interpret earlier experiences as they get older.