Micro is a journey through the world that lies beneath the level we inhabit. These small creatures and their lives form the basis for the world we know.
This music was written to the footage Mike Rosecope gave kind permission for me to use from his YouTube videos of the world beneath our sight.
- The Other World – All good journeys begin with a sense of wonder. And a transition. Step from your everyday world into one where the small become the masters.
- Like Giver – Water is the core environment for all known life. A drop of water becomes our new universe.
- Surface Tension – This one borrows some from James Blish’s wonderful story of the same name. Musically it starts with an Adelbert Von Deyen feel and verges into light Prog Rock in the second half.
- Dissolved Salts (Jane’s Song) – The second precursor for life is the dissolved minerals that form the catalyst for life. This is the Pop Song of the album.
- First Acid – Somehow a first amino acid formed and from there all life sprang. This track started as a test loop in another program. I liked it and carried it over to my usual composing environment. There is, of course, a double entendre with the musical form Acid House.
- Creatures In Suspension – We live in air and on land. In the drop of water, all creatures float in three dimensions (like spacemen). This was the first piece written. During composition, TeflonTomb suggested I look at the microscopic footage for my next record. It seemed to fit.
- All The Myriad Forms – Microscopic life is very varied and takes many wonderful (and creepy to us) shapes. This piece was made exclusively with a synth I was doing sound design for. It uses an impulse to drive a Resonator and Physical Models of String & Bell. I deliberately allowed several sounds to pass through discordance as they change state.
- Flagella & Cilia (Protozoan Locomotion) – Most of our new friends have very different body shapes from us so they move very differently. Trillions of legs and paddles.
- Errant Biomass – The title is a sort-of technical description for plankton. Errant as it has no particular control over where it goes as it relies on water currents instead of destination-based travel as we do. Biomass because there are literally tons of them in each swarm, enough to feed whales. The original version of this track was written in the early EBM style and then re-voiced to what you hear.
- Bioluminescence – Some of the microscopic creatures create their own light. Sometimes enough for us to see in our world.
- Red Tide – Our journey brings us back to our level of the world with the tide.
- Geometry of Life – A somewhat algorithmic piece of music to help us reflect on our journey through another layer of life.
Bonus Tracks (included on the purchased album)
- First Acid original loop – this is where the initial idea for the album track came from. In the final track, you can hear the two different takes I made of duplicating/interpreting the sound of this loop.
- Errant Biomass underfed canine mix – the original version of this track which was written with another synth I was doing sound design work for. The developer wanted big nasty sounds and this seemed a way to test some. Yes, that is me “singing”. The mix name is a reference to the Canadian Industrial band Skinny Puppy I used to model my track on.