Mike Dunne is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer, with a deep and abiding love of music across a wide array of styles. Late last year, Dunne released the breezy and anthemic Beatles-esque power pop track “These Eyes,” a song that to my ears sounded as though it could have been released between roughly 1968-1972.

He begins 2024 with “Not Today,” a slow-burning and cinematic song featuring some expressive and gorgeous, vaguely Romani-like violin playing paired with strummed acoustic guitar and Dunne’s effortless croon. The result is a song that sounds a bit like a synthesis of the baroque, chamber pop of Scott Walker, The Beatles and Joe Wong.

Dunne explains that the song is a zen story. “A boy in a small village decides he wants to become a monk. He goes to the monastery and knocks on the door,” the singer/songwriter explains. “The monk opens the peephole looks at the boy who asks if he can enter. The monk is livid…’how dare you bother me…go home and never return.’ The boy goes home. Next day he wakes up and still wants to be a monk. He returns to the monastery. Same response…but louder. The boy goes home. He wakes the next morning and decides he still wants to be a monk. He returns to the monastery, the door swings wide open and the monk says, ‘We have waited a long time for you…where have you been?’ This song is about perseverance, dedication, that sense of purpose that guides us. No drama, just focus. If you believe in something don’t give up, don’t give up, not today . . .”