Brian Gore, the acclaimed fingerstyle guitarist and founder of International Guitar Night, has teamed up with Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven for a powerful new collaboration. Their single, “Jangled Mind,” arrives October 14th and offers a haunting carnival metaphor for a fractured psyche.
Longtime friends, Gore and Segel fuse acoustic storytelling with experimental textures in this poignant ballad. Gore’s intricate guitar work and lyrical depth provide the song’s backbone, while Segel’s mandolin and violin create a soundscape steeped in existential unease. Together, they paint an image of life as a decaying amusement park—“a stuck Ferris wheel that’s rusting through time” and “a strange funhouse mirror that warps what’s within.”
“I imagined life as an old amusement park where manufactured joy is left to decay,” says Gore. “It felt like the perfect metaphor for a mind wrestling with its own past and its warped self-reflections. In the end, we choose whether to ‘crack the veneer’ or ‘just stay in the lines.’”
“Jangled Mind” showcases Gore’s reputation as a “poet of the guitar,” known for blending Americana, folk, classical, and world influences with emotional precision. Over the past two decades, he has curated International Guitar Night, spotlighting some of the world’s foremost acoustic players.
Segel, celebrated as one of indie rock’s most versatile musicians, brings a vast background in composition and improvisation. Best known as a founding member of Camper Van Beethoven, he has also collaborated with Sparklehorse and Eugene Chadbourne, and has worked extensively as a composer for film and dance.
With “Jangled Mind,” the duo channels their shared history and unique voices into a track that resonates with raw vulnerability and stark beauty.
The single will be available October 14th on streaming platforms.
