Father John Misty Mahashmashana (2024)
As a writer, editor, curator of conversations, Sascha assumes different roles, blending art, language and pop culture with an acute sense of the Zeitgeist. Before becoming a novelist, Sascha founded Das Wetter—the Berlin-based magazine that has become one of Germany’s most influential voices in contemporary literature and pop culture. Authors like Paulina Czienskowski and Jovana Reisinger, who also participated in our Track Crush series, have written for the magazine, amongst many others.
Sascha is also one of the three co-founders of the publishing house Korbinian Verlag, which he ran with Katharina Holzmann and David Rabolt, publishing over 20 books and winning the German Publisher Prize three times. Since 2024, Katharina and David have continued the venture, while Sascha turned his focus to new creative projects. A sought-after writer covering music, literature, art and pop culture for newspapers and magazines such as taz, FAS and ZEIT Magazin, he took on a new role in spring 2025 as head of media and public relations at Schauspielhaus Zürich.
His debut novel, Palo Santo, is a work steeped in atmosphere. The book follows film legend Billy Wilder and the modern-day couple Hedi and Golo: three creative souls separated by decades yet bound by their escape from a politically darkening Europe to Los Angeles. Hollywood dreams meet existential disillusionment while the characters look for freedom and belonging. Palo Santo blends pop culture and film references into a story about love and uncertainty across 100 years. “While writing, I always had the same artists on repeat,” Sascha recalls. “Their music shaped the mood of the book, both consciously and unconsciously.” From Alice Coltrane’s spiritual jazz to Father John Misty’s self-reflective lyrics, these songs didn’t just echo through the pages of Palo Santo, they also became the soundtrack of our week.
The week starts with “Mahashmashana” by Father John Misty. The song was released at just the right time: while he was in the final stages of writing his manuscript. In Sascha’s own words: “I wanted to write a text that felt slightly foggy,” he says, “diffusely interested in spirituality without becoming dogmatic. Father John Misty’s music is full of a questioning kind of wonder about religion. His lyrics are self-ironic, they read beautifully even on paper, and they’re very much rooted in Los Angeles—or maybe even specifically in West Hollywood, where my novel takes place. His latest album came out just as I was finishing my manuscript, and the title track, whose name is taken from Sanskrit, resonated deeply with me—both lyrically and melodically. I still love listening to it.”
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