Track 1 - Adam the Astronaut, Part 1: Death of an Astronaut.

INCEPTION…

This song was literally a decade in the making.  The idea/story began after watching “A Space Odyssey: 2001”.  There is a particular scene where AL (the AI computer in the space ship) flings one of the astronauts out into the infinite void of space.  

It was a terrifying thought to imagine flying through space, spinning out of control, and with no way to stop…the idea that your body may go for hundreds of thousands of years before eventually colliding with some object and finally bring about your end.  I imagined you might black out quickly (hopefully), and you would obviously run out of oxygen, but my goodness…what a few excruciating minutes.

Over the following few years after, different ideas for music and melody and lyrics came to me, but they never quite landed.  In short they just felt empty and without purpose.  

During that time, life moved as life does.  A particular event occurred that still lingers close to me and probably will until the ultimate end.  One of my oldest friends, Ashley, completed suicide.  Remnants of that event are littered throughout this album.  But, with particular regard to “Adam the Astronaut, pt 1”, the theme of “Isolation” and the feelings of frustration toward the world Ashley and I had grown up in, began to form.  I began to picture an astronaut, alone in the dark, with only the memory of their friend to keep them company.  An astronaut deliberately leaving all they know to find a place they belong. From there, purpose was identified, and it really took off (no pun intended).  I know what it feels like to feel alone, and to feel like you don't really fit in the world you know.  It's uncomfortable to realize that all you know is to be uncomfortable, and thus, the unknown becomes a comfort to some degree.  I would argue that the world/society/culture I grew up in was designed only for the comfort of a small handful, and from that argument came…"Maybe I'm not alone out here".

MUSIC…

Song structure is always something I enjoy playing with, and finding unorthodox ways of doing things.  A little extension here, cutting something short there, change the time signature in this spot…It makes things less accessible sometimes, but when it's done well, it sticks with you.  Considering the story of the song and the context, it felt like a great opportunity to really do something different.  I'll say, I'm not the most technical writer, player, etc.  I know enough to know when I'm “breaking an established rule” of songwriting, but beyond that, I'm not very knowledgeable.  

I am a big fan of Rush, and deliberately went to listening to their early work.  Specifically the album “A Farewell to Kings”, and more specifically, the album's closing song “Cignus X-1”.  If you haven't listened to this song, and if you are a fan of progressive rock/metal, I highly recommend it…it's a bananas combination of time changes, breakdowns, build ups, and nuance…I just love it. The song called to me for the unorthodox structure, and for the lyrical content that is not unrelated to “Adam the Astronaut”.  

I view the song, musically, as 1 piece of music, repeated 3 times (with a slight variation at the end).  The opening “riff” was the first part of the music that I wrote, and the rest followed naturally and quickly.  

The final product includes a couple of time changes and dropping a few bars short of the standard, along with a couple of shifts in intensity/pacing, and with less discernible “verse”, “chorus”, and “bridge” elements.  It's weird and I'm proud (perhaps to a fault).

As often happens for me, once I had an idea for the music, structure, melodies, and story, putting it all together was fast and organic.  I find that with many of my songs, especially the more complex ones, I have to let them “marinate” for a bit while I probe different ideas and directions.  It's not an exact science, but it is certainly a practice of trial and error.  Furthermore, it doesn't always take 10 years, but I wouldn't say it's uncommon for me to take a few years to get from Song Inception to Song Actualization.

INFLUENCES…

Many of the songs I write have at least few very direct influences I'm pulling from.  I won't go into the details of what exactly influenced me on the items, but here's the big ones I referenced for “Adam the Astronaut, Part 1: Death of an Astronaut” (in no specific order)…

• Rush
• The Flaming Lips
• Neil DeGrasse Tyson
• Stephen Hawking
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• David Bowie
• Tool

Spotify Playlist…

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6b1nAXrso2hq3yxQU7K2IZ?si=Sa5FR4P-REib5EyGjK0shw