Album Storyline Cliff’s Notes
Steven and Daniel started working on their current Album, Life After Rome, right about the time of the shut-downs in 2020. Coming up with over 20 new ideas, they zeroed in on 8 songs that seem to fit together like a story. It tells a story of a life, and captures a certain time and feeling.
Habits
He wakes up to another day. It has everything to offer, every path. Down each path are different choices and entities. Temptation is around every corner and haunts him like ghosts from his past. Persuasion is like an old friend that you just can’t seem to shake. What path will he take today? Will he walk with his old friends or will he escape his demons. Every day is a challenge. No guarantees. It will last forever
Photo Weapon
Father observes a toddler holding his iPhone. She is drawn in by the shapes and colors that dance around the screen. The objects are inviting, they make her feel curious and intrigued. As if by design it lures her into its world. The right shapes, sounds and algorithms have been deployed and the child’s mind becomes consumed. Drawn into an illusion and under the spell of a sorcerer the child goes deeper into a trance-like state. Another bite taken out of the apple from the tree of life. Innocence is lost and parenting could be hindered by the outside influence. Is this a phone, camera, television? Or is it all just a photo weapon? A trojan horse used to wage a war to conquer our minds.
Moving Around
Man sits alone in a small, rundown apartment in a dilapidated high rise. He is a troubled man. He has left his family behind. Consumed by propaganda, he stares out his window in disgust. He watches a businessman with his head down to the grind, making his way up the corporate ladder. He sees a street dancer performing on the corner just because she wants to. Traffic is noisy. Streets are filled with smog held down by heat and humidity. A bead of sweat appears on his forehead. He feels overcome with anger and hostility. There is something moving through society that is silent. It takes over its host and then moves to the next. In the shadows of every town, lurking and waiting patiently.
Glitch In the System
Written from the perspective of something that roams the universe in search of the perfect place to live. It consumes all of the energy of its surroundings before it finds its next home. It crosses oceans and continents on its journey. It knows not what it does, for this it is what it is. A parasite that destroys in order to live. On every level, from the formation of star systems to the colonization of the tiniest organisms, there is constant competition for survival. This is a story that has no beginning and no end. This is a story of the urge to exist. Man contemplates his purpose in life. Why do I feed like a tick upon my home? How can I change the trajectory of my existence?
3:55
The open window allows the wind of change to enter. The character starts to gather his thoughts and belongings. He has visions of leaving this all behind. It’s time to let go of the pain that holds him back. He feels confident and anew, with a child-like take on life. He wants to shed the past and move into a new state of enlightenment. No more must he consume, but only take what he needs and give the rest back to the world. He transforms into this new person and looks at the clock on the wall which reads 3:55. He knocks on the blue door and begs for entry into this new world.
City Lights
The character passes through the blue door and on to a new journey. In the rearview mirror of his mind he sees the skyline of the city he leaves behind. The lights make the sky glow orange at night. The constant flow of energy that he felt from this place starts to fade away. The feeling that once consumed him and filled him with rage drifts into the ether. He feels lighter, like air. He is excited about the mysteries that lie ahead. Isolation will do him some good. He needs time to reconnect with the earth, his creator.. He needs time to find his center and goes on a quest to find the meaning of it all, the answer to the ultimate question.
Millions of Miles
The character walks alone over every landscape. He traverses mountains and crosses rivers. His physical journey is really about a mental journey of transcendence. Mind, body, spirit and earth have become one. He sits by a fire and watches the embers fly up into the sky and fade away like rising stars. He hears the wolves howling, waiting for him to drop his guard. They track him day and night, waiting for him to fall weak, like the demons that hunted him in his previous life. The man travels on. Fear will only kill him and he knows it. The simplest form of existence is the overall willingness and drive to survive. This can also be the most dangerous of states. For man is the ultimate predator and deadliest parasite.
Matamoros
Using the stars as his guide, Z travels south. He crosses through a desert. His journey leads him to a small coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico called Matamoros. He knows that his journey is coming to an end. He has aged beyond his years. His skin has leathered and the lines on his face are like a road map to his past. You can see the pain he’s endured and likely caused, the demons he faced and the evil he’s escaped from. He remembers the sleepless nights wondering if this would be the night the wolves decided to launch their imminent attack. He can see the city lights with his minds’ eye.
He enters the town and hears the sounds of children playing. They skip and jump rope on the unpaved streets. He makes his way to the coastline and sits quietly on the beach. Nobody knows him here. He has no name. He closes his eyes and goes into a permanent slumber. Is the journey over or did it just begin?