This album is fairly high concept literary geek dark electronica. It is based on public domain literary monsters that I feel are based on darker elements in the human psyche or shadow self. Each song takes quotes from them books and strings them together into a narrative that expresses the core of that monster.
I used this album to help me get through the initial coming to terms with my diagnosis and PTSD and the loss associated with it. It gave me a chance to explore and accept the darker side of my humanity and learn to be at peace with it.
In Plain Sight uses lines from the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. For me the invisible man portrays what we would do if we know we wouldn’t be caught. For those that are unfamiliar, it involves a college professor that becomes invisible and has to navigate what that means. The transformation is a one time thing and irriversable. For this I used the sounds of my knees and shoulders moving to create a human componant with city ambience and a walking bassline that represents stealth movement. The crescendo represents chaos erupting as the Invisible Man takes some action and gets away thanks to his gift.
From the Depths represents Beowulf. Initial it was going to be Grendel, the monster from the book but on deeper introspection the monster I wanted to represent was Beowulf himself. The idea of this peerless warrior that knows only violence as a way to solve problems, ever seeking a worthy fight. It starts with quotes about Beowulf then the man himself takes over and describes his mentality. Hyper-masculine boasting with a desire to conquer everything before him.
The Monster Within covers Frankenstein but again I am not referring to the monster in the book but Doctor Frankenstein himself. For he is the true monster of the book. It features quotes from his journal that recall the depraved actions he took to build his creation and he concern about what he had unleashed on the world.
Under Wraps represents the Mummy. The lines are from Jane C. Webb Loudon’s book titles The Mummy!: A Tale of the Twenty Second Century. This for me represented that we all present a version of ourselves to the world. A persona at work, one for the family, and a different one with each friend group. This for me was about who we are under all those facades or wraps. For this there is a nasty droning that is hidden in layer after layer of uplifting music until you can no longer hear it. But it is always there… under wraps.
Night Thoughts is about the werewolf as written by Aino Kallas in the book The Wolf’s Bride. It starts with a human voice singing a happy rhythm that is then taken over by the bassline that gets progressibly darker and more discordant as he transforms into the wolf. The wolf represents that animal in us all that wants to rip and tear its own flesh to reveal its’ true image. A ferocious hairy beast, all claws and teeth. At the end he transforms back and we end with the human signing again.
Hidden Fangs represents Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dracula himself introduces the song and is latter followed by quotes from people who have barely survived him. The focus in on night and darkness. Bloodlust but done with charm and charisma that disarms his prey until it is too late.
The final track on the album is called Sleeper and it represents Cthulhu from H.P. Lovecraft. The goal here is to tell the story of a crew getting ready for a naval voyage to find and deal with Cthulhu. Starting with harbour sounds, I brought in the sea shant Wellerman to represent the time at sea before they encounter Cthulhu. The final parts of the song and album are less musical and more movie score depicting the sinking of the ship at the hands of Cthulhu. His harrowing bellow finished the album out reminding us all that monsters are out there still.
Drew Torchia 