Can Music Cure Lyme Disease?

Kyle Morton was bitten by a tick as a child, contracting a case of Lyme disease that went undiagnosed for years, even as it wreaked havoc on his body.  Morton nearly lost his life to the disease - he had multiple organ failures and had to have a kidney transplanted from his father. As an adult, Morton now feels like he is living on borrowed time and is past his expiration date. 

Perhaps that's why Morton has overachieved in a way, forming the folk-rock orchestra Typhoon, a Portland-based, dozen-or-so-member band that favors orchestral instruments and precise, complicated arrangements. 

In writing lyrics for Typhoon’s music, Morton thinks a lot about his own impermanence. The songs may have uplifting melodies, but underneath the melodies are much darker lyrics. It is through his music that one can find Morton’s sincere appreciation for the gift of life.

"It obliterated any sense of these monumental truths that I had as a kid," Morton told NPR.  "That I would grow up, that I would be strong and tall. That's something, on a personal level, I've been trying to come to terms with, this regret, or this feeling of loss, over a person I never became." Morton says, "So that's the only thing I find worthwhile to write about, because not only is it important to me, I think it's a feeling a lot of people can relate to — a sense of wanting to be something and not being able to achieve it."